An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animals

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SCIENCE

THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD

BY WILLIAM HARVEY • INTRODUC-
TION BY E. A. PARKYN • TRANSLATED
BY ROBERT WILLIS

WILLIAM HARVEY, born at Folkestone,
Kent, in 1578. Educated at Canterbury and
Cambridge. In 1607 elected fellow of the
College of Physicians and in 1609 made
assistant physician at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital. Died in 16^7.

G17- .1

THE CIRCULATION
OF THE BLOOD

WILLIAM HARVEY

LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.

All rights reserved

Made in Great Britain

at The Temple Press Letchworth

and decorated by Eric Ravilious

for

J. M. Dent 8l Sons Ltd.

Aldine House Bedford St. London

Toronto . Vancouver

Melbourne . Wellington

First Published in this Edition 19OJ

Reprinted 1923

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

However much the renewal of classical learning in
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries may
have furthered the development of letters and of art, it
had anything but a favourable influence on the progress
of science. The interest awakened in the literature of
Greece and Rome was shown in admiration not only for
the works of poets, historians, and orators, but also for
those of physicians, anatomists, and astronomers. In
consequence scientific investigation was almost wholly
restricted to the study of the writings of authors like
Aristotle, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, and Galen, and it
became the highest ambition to explain and comment
upon their teachings, almost an impiety to question
them. Independent inquiry, the direct appeal to
nature, were thus discouraged, and indeed looked upon
with the utmost distrust if their results ran counter to
what was found in the works of Aristotle or Galen.
This spell of ancient authority was broken by the
anatomists of the sixteenth century, who determined at
all costs to examine the human body for themselves,
and to be guided by what their own observations
revealed to them ; and it was finally overcome by the
independent genius of two men working in very different
scientific spheres, Galileo and Harvey. These illus-
trious observers were contemporaries during the greater
part of their lives, and were some years together at the
famous University of Padua. Galileo and Harvey
refused to be bound by the teachings of Aristotle and
Galen, and appealed from these authorities to the
actual facts of nature which any man could observe for

vii

viii Editor's Introduction

himself. Their scientific work is therefore of interest,
not only for the innate value of the discoveries they
made, but also because it shows them as pioneers in
that independent spirit of scientific inquiry to which
the great advance in natural knowledge since their time
is so largely due.

Harvey's work, by which his name has been made
immortal, strikingly illustrates this. He was the first_ta
show the nature of the movements of the heart, and
how the blood moved in the^bjidyT ffe~3Id so~By
putting on one side authority, and directly appealing to
observation and experiment. The completeness of the
success with which this independent line was taken, as
exemplified in his treatise " On the Movement of the
Heart and Blood," is such as to excite the admiration of
every modern physiologist. " C'est un chef-d'oeuvre,"
says a distinguished French physiologist, Flourens, "ce
petit livre de cent pages est le plus beau livre de la
physiologic" *

The discovery made by Harvey was this : That the
blood passed from the heart into the arteries, thence to
the veins, by which it was brought back to the heart
again ; that the blood moved more or less in a circle,
coming back eventually to the point from which it
started. In a phrase, there was a Circulation of the
Blood. Moreover, this circulation was of a double
nature — one circle being from the right side of the heart
to the left through the lungs, hence called the Pulmon-
ary or Lesser Circulation ; the other from the left side
of the heart to the right, through the rest of the body,
known as the Systemic or Greater Circulation. Further,
that it was the peculiar office of the heart to maintain
this circulation by its continuous rhythmic beating as
long as life lasts.

This appears very plain and simple to us now — so
easy that he who runs may read : as important as

1 Flourens, Histoire de la Decouverte de la Circulation du Sang,
1854.

Editor's Introduction ix

simple, for without this knowledge it is no exaggeration
to say that a real understanding of any important

function of the human body was impossible. And
hence it has been contended with much force that not
only the science of physiology, but the scientific practice

of medicine date from this discovery. "To medical
practice," says Sir John Simon, "it stands much in the
same relation as the discovery of the mariner's compass
to navigation ; without it, the medical practitioner would
be all adrift, and his efforts to benefit mankind would
be made in ignorance and at random. . . . The
discovery is incomparably the most important ever
made in physiological science, bearing and destined to
bear fruit for the benefit of all succeeding ages." !

When Harvey first approached the subject, there
were all kinds of crude and fantastic ideas regarding
the functions and uses of the heart, bloodvessels, and
blood — that the heart was the workshop in which
were elaborated the spirits, a due supply of which was
necessary for many parts of the body ; that from the
heart the arteries carried spirits, the veins nutriment to
the different parts of the body ; that the arteries con-
tained blood and air mixed together, or only air; that
fuliginous vapours, whatever they may be, passed from
the heart along the bloodvessels ; that the septum of the
heart, by which its two sides are completely separated,
was riddled with minute holes, like a fine sieve, through
which the blood percolated from the right to the left
side ; again, that the heart was the organ in which the
heat of the body was produced. Another favourite
theory was that the blood moved from the heart along
certain bloodvessels and back again by exactly the
same channels, after the manner of the rise and fall of
the tides, to which in fact the movement was likened.
More curious still, even the best informed appeared to
believe that the arteries terminated in nerves.

1 Harvey Tercentenary Memorial Meeting, Folkestone, September 6,
1871.

x Editor's Introduction

Notwithstanding these curious and erroneous specu-
lations there was not wanting exact and wide knowledge
of the anatomy of the human body. Indeed, before
Harvey was born there had lived and died a most
remarkable man known to fame as the " Father of
Anatomy." This was Vesalius. Vesalius's knowledge
of the human body was so profound that the only
wonder is that he did not forestall Harvey in the
discovery of the circulation. As the result of dissections
of the body at the time when they could be carried out
only with great difficulty, and often at the risk of severe
penalties, Vesalius published, when only twenty-eight
years of age, a treatise on Anatomy x which cannot fail
to excite the astonishment and admiration of any
modern acquainted with the subject. This work is
illustrated with fine engravings made from drawings by
John Calcar, a Flemish artist, and pupil of Titian. 2

The distribution of the bloodvessels in the lungs
and many other parts of the body, the general structure
of the heart, the valves in the veins, were all known
before Harvey arrived on the scene. More than this,
the circulation through the lungs, or the Pulmonary
Circulation, appears to have been known to one person
at least. Michael Servetus, famous for his martyrdom
on account of his religious opinions, in one of his
theological works 3 does actually describe the blood as
passing from the right side of the heart to the left
through the lungs, and gives good reasons for his
belief. Servetus, in his early days, had been with
Vesalius prosector to John Guinterius of Andernach
when Professor of Anatomy at Paris. Guinterius 4
speaks with admiration of the knowledge and abilities
of his two young assistants. Like Vesalius, Servetus
was therefore well acquainted with the anatomy of the
body ; but more, he was a physiologist ; and no doubt

1 De humani Corporis fabrica, 1543.

3 Vasari : " Lives of the Painleis," vols. iii. 519, v. 402 (Bohn's ed.).

* Restitutio Christianismi, 1553.

* Institutiuues Anatouuoi, Jipistola Nuncupatoria, 1539.

Editor's Introduction xi

when the cruelty of th J dispute sent him to the

stake at the age of forty-tour, it deprived phj

of a most promising investigator. The book in which

the account of the Pulmonary Circulation is found has
B most curious history. All copies of it, except one,
were burnt with ServetUS. This copy became the pro-
perty of I>. O>lladon, one of his judges. After passing
through the library of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel
it came into the hands of a Dr. Mead, who undertook
in 1723 to issue a quarto edition of it, but before
completion the sheets were seized at the instance of
1 >r. Gibson, Bishop of London, and destroyed. The
Due de Valise is said to have given 400 guineas
for the original copy, and at his sale it brought 3,810
livres. It is now in the National Library at Paris.
It may well be questioned therefore whether the
discovery of Servetus was ever known to the anatomists,
including Harvev, who wrote after his death. One of
these was Realdus Columbus, who published a work
on Anatomy 1 six years after Servetus died, in which
he shows that he clearly understood the valves of the
heart, and describes the passage of the blood through
the lungs. Columbus has been claimed as the real
discoverer of the circulation and as having forestalled
Harvey. But neither Servetus nor Columbus had any
notion of the Greater or Systemic Circulation. And
the latter actually says the heart is not muscular, and
speaks of a to-and-fro movement of the blood in the
veins.

But a third and much more serious precursor of
Harvey as the discoverer has been brought forward in
the person of Andreas Caesalpinus 2 of Arezzo, justly
renowned as the earliest of botanists. He actually-
used the word " circulation " in regard to the passage of
the blood through the lungs. The claims of Caesal-
pinus have been taken up with enthusiasm, not to say

1 De Re Anatomica, 1559.

* Quaesliones Peripaleticae, 1569. De Plantis, 15^3.

xii Editor's Introduction

bitterness, in Italy; and in 1876 his statue was erected
with much pomp and speechmaking in Rome, and an
inscription placed upon it recording that he was the
first discoverer of the circulation of the blood. It is
much to be regretted that this display was not alto-
gether free from a desire to depreciate Harvey.
Wonder may well be expressed at this procedure, even
after allowing for well-meant patriotic ardour, when it
is learnt that in his works Cassalpinus speaks of the
arteries ending in nerves, of the septum of the heart
being permeable, and its valves acting imperfectly, and
of the veins carrying blood to the body for its nourish-
ment. The statements made by Caesalpinus, which at
first sight point to his knowledge of the circulation, are
altogether discounted on perusal of his works, and it
becomes impossible to believe that he had any clear
idea of the circulation as we understand it to-day.
The misconception has no doubt arisen from the
interpretation of isolated passages in the light of what
we now know regarding the circulation. Moreover, it
is impossible to believe, seeing how well the works of
Caesalpinus were known, that, had he ever been re-
garded as putting forward in them the doctrine of the
circulation as we now understand it, such a new and
startling view would not have attracted the attention of
the distinguished anatomists who were his contem-
poraries or immediate successors. But that none of
them ever for a moment saw any such doctrine in
the works of Caesalpinus is shown by their writings,
and by the surprise with which Harvey's discovery
was received.

Even Shakespeare has been cited as being acquainted
with the circulation of the blood, because he refers to
its movement. This only illustrates the confusion
which has often been made of movement with cir-
culation. From the earliest times it had been believed
there was movement of the blood, but there was no
clear or correct idea as to the nature of the movement.

Editor's Introduction xiii

The view may be ventured that another confusion is
for a good ileal that has been said about
Harvey having been forestalled in the discovery. It
is confusing the passage through the lungs of some
blood with the whole mass of it. It is difficult to
believe, on taking a broad view of all their statements
on the subject, that any of Harvey's predecessors
realised that the whole mass of the blood was con-
tinually passing through the lungs. Had they done so
il is further difficult to see how the systemic circulation
should have escaped them. But of this they certainly
had no id' a.

We may admit all this previous knowledge without
its detracting from the ureatne^s and merit of Harvey's
work. Although the same anatomical facts, and even
a glimmering of the Pulmonary Circulation may have
hi en present to the minds of his predecessors or con-
temporaries, yet the genius, the spark of originality by
which was discovered the proper relation to one another
of the former, the true significance and meaning of the
latter, belongs to Harvey and to him alone.

As was said by one of the best informed minds 1 of
the eighteenth century: "It is not to Csesalpinus,
because of some words of doubtful meaning, but to
Harvey, the able writer, the laborious contriver of so
many experiments, the staid propounder of all the
arguments available in his day, that the immortal
glory of having discovered the Circulation of the Blood
is to be assigned."

William Harvey was born on April i, in the year
1578, at Folkestone, the eldest of seven sons of a
well-to-do Kentish yeoman. When ten years old he
was sent to the Grammar School at Canterbury, and re-
mained there until he was fifteen. He then proceeded
to Caius College, Cambridge, where after three years'
residence he took the usual degree. Desiring to
enter the medical profession, he adopted a course, not

' Halter, Elementa Physiologiae, vol. i. lib. iii., 1757.

xiv Editor's Introduction

unusual at that time, of going abroad to study at a
Continental University, a course due to the absence
of scientific teaching in the English Universities on
the one hand, and to its excellence in those of the
Continent on the other. Consequently, in the year
1597, when nineteen years of age, Harvey directed
his steps towards Padua, then famous throughout
Europe for its medical school, and especially for its
school of anatomy. Earlier in the century the chair
of Anatomy had been filled by Vesalius; it was now
occupied by another celebrated anatomist, known as
Fabricius of Aquapendente. Harvey enjoyed the
advantage of studying anatomy under this great
teacher, and the visitor to Padua to-day can see the
little anatomical theatre with its carved desks, over
one of which, no doubt, our illustrious discoverer leant
with eager attention whilst Fabricius demonstrated on
the body below. We can see the professor with pride
explaining to his pupils the valves in the veins which
he had discovered, yet not appreciating their meaning
and importance ; that was to be done a few years hence
by the young student listening above. It is very
interesting to learn that at this time Galileo was also
a professor at Padua, and was lecturing with such
success that students flocked to hear him from all
parts of Europe. Surely it is difficult to imagine any
seat of learning more distinguished and attractive than
the University of Padua must have been during the
five years Harvey spent there. At the end of this
time he received his degree of doctor, the diploma for
which is couched in the most eulogistic language,
showing how by his studies and abilities he had
attracted the attention and earned the commendation
of the distinguished professors who then held the
chairs of Anatomy, Medicine, and Surgery in the Uni-
versity. He now returned to England, and was
granted the degree of Doctor of Medicine by the
University of Cambridge.

Editor's Introduction xv

Soon after, Harvey settled in London and began to

practise. In 1607 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians, and in 16 15 was ap-
pointed Lecturer in Anatomy to that ancient and
important foundation. In 1609 he had been elected
physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

In 1616, the year Shakespeare died, Harvey probably
began in his classes to teach that doctrine which has
immortalised his name. He began to show his pupils,
and whoever else desired to be present, from dis-
sections of the human body and of animals, and by
experiment when necessary, the true office of the
heart, the true course of the movement of the blood
in the body. This he continued to do for more
than ten years, listening patiently to objections, indeed
inviting criticisms so that the complete truth might
be discovered free from any falsities or misconceptions.
At last, upon the earnest entreaties of his most dis-
tinguished medical friends, he was persuaded to
publish his discovery to the world. These facts are
of interest in throwing some light on Harvey's character.
A discoverer who waits years before publishing what
he is firmly convinced in his own mind is a new idea,
not to say a great discovery, must be possessed of that
calmness of mind and abnegation of self which we
associate with the true philosopher. A discoverer who
employs so long an interval to give opportunity for
criticism, and to deal with objections, must indeed be
wedded to truth.

This devotion to truth, however, had its reward, for
it resulted in one of the most remarkable scientific
treatises ever written. When, in 1628, Harvey pub-
lished at Frankfort-on-Main, his book on "The Move-
ment of the Heart and Blood," he gave his reasons
for believing the blood to circulate, and explained the
use of the heart in language so simple, so clear, so
exact, that now, nearly three hundred years afterwards,
the most accomplished physiologist can hardly improve
b :6J

xvi Editor's Introduction

on it. This assuredly is a fact almost unique in the
history of science.

And yet with all this the fact remains that Harvey
never really knew, from the nature of the case could
not know, how the blood passed from the arteries
to the veins — how, in other words, an essential part
of the circulation was actually accomplished. The
blood passes from the arteries to the veins through
minute microscopic tubes termed capillaries. In
Harvey's day the microscope was not sufficiently
powerful to reveal such fine structures to human vision,
and he was therefore necessarily ignorant of their
existence. Looked at from this point of view, the
discovery affords a very good example of what has
been aptly termed the scientific use of the imagination.
Although, with his imperfect microscope, it was im-
possible for him to know how the blood actually
passed from the arteries to the veins, yet as the result
of his observations and experiments he was able to
infer and to state the grounds for his inference in clear,
forcible, and most convincing language, that the blood
must circulate, and circulate in one direction only, viz.
from the heart into the arteries, thence to the veins,
by which it was brought back to the heart again.
His imagination was thus enabled to bridge over the
gulf between the arteries and veins which his eyes,
with the imperfect instrument then alone at his disposal,
were quite unable to cross. It was not until four
years after Harvey's death that the microscope had
been sufficiently improved to enable an Italian anato-
mist named Malpighi, 1 in the year 1661, to actually
observe the capillaries uniting by their networks arteries
and veins.

The work was published at Frankfort doubtless that
it might be more easily disseminated over the Con-
tinent. It made a sensation among the learned of all
countries. Its conclusions were opposed by the older

1 De Pulmcn bus, Observations Anatomici, 1663.

Editor's Introduction xvii

physicians; but by the younger scientific men it was
by no means received with disfavour. Amongst the
latter was the philosopher Descartes, whose name was
then a power in Europe. The philosophical, yet keenly
practical mind of Descartes grasped the discovery with
avidity and supported it with ardour In his celebrated
" Discours de la Methode," l he refers to the discovery of
" an English physician," and describes with enthusiasm
the anatomy and use of the heart. Although we have
no certain information on the point it is quite possible
that 1 >escartes may have known Harvey, for in the year
1631 he is said to have paid a visit to England ; and
in his second reply to Riolan Harvey refers to " the
ingenious and acute Descartes," and says the honourable
mention of his name demands his acknowledgments.
Thus the discovery became widely known and largely
adopted.

One result of the publication of his discovery was
only in keeping with the experience of many great and
original minds before and after his time. In the things
of this world his discovery was of little service to him.
His practice fell off. Patients feared to put themselves
under the care of one who was accused by his envious
detractors of being crack-brained, and of putting forward
new-fangled and dangerous doctrines. One who knew
Harvey writes as follows : " I have heard him say that
after his booke of the Circulation of the Blood came
out he fell mightily in his practice, and 'twas believed
by the vulgar that he was crack-brained, and all the
physitians were against him, with much adoe at last in
about 20 or 30 years time it was received in all the
universities in the world, and as Mr Hobbs says in
his book ' De Corpore,' he is the only man perhaps that
ever lived to see his own doctrine established in his
lifetime." 2

There was one striking exception to this treatment.

1 First published at Leyden in 4to, 1637.

'John Aubrey, " Lives and Letters ot Eminent Persons," London, 1813.

xviii Editor's Introduction

The King, Charles I., not only appointed Harvey his
physician, but showed the liveliest interest in his dis-
covery. Harvey explained his new doctrine on the
body before the King. Whatever opinions may be held
regarding the moral and political character of that
unfortunate monarch, it must be admitted that in aiding
and befriending Vandyke and Harvey he showed him-
self an enlightened patron of both art and science.
Harvey continued the King's physician, and held this
position when, in 1641, Charles declared war against the
Parliament. It is here curious to learn that although
openly declared enemies the Parliament was still
mindful of the King's person, for not only with their
consent, but by their desire, Harvey remained his
physician. 1 Notwithstanding his intimate connection
with the Court, Harvey appears to have taken no active
part in the great political struggle now taking place. The
little solicitude he had for it is shown by an anecdote
told of him at the first battle of the Civil War. " When
King Charles," says a contemporary author, 2 " by reason
of the tumults left London, Harvey attended him, and
was at the fight of Edgehill with him : and during the
fight the Prince and the Duke of York were committed
to his care. He told me that he withdrew with them
under a hedge, and tooke out of his pocket a booke and
read. But he had not read very long before a bullet of
a great gun grazed on the ground near him, which made
him remove his station." This anecdote well illustrates
Harvey's calm and peaceful character. This was also
shown by the restrained and dignified manner in which
he treated the many writers who attacked him, some-
times in anything but choice language, after the
publication of his great discovery. Anything like
controversy for controversy's sake was wholly foreign
to his nature. "To return evil speaking with evil
speaking," he remarks in a reply to one of his critics,

' De Generatione Ex. lxviii.
* Aubrey, loc. cit.

Editor's Introduction xix

" I hold to be unworthy of a philosopher and a searcher
after truth. I believe I shall do better and more
advisedly if I meet so many indications of ill breeding
with the light of faithful and conclusive observation." »
To many of the attacks made on his discovery or on
himself, he therefore did not condescend to reply. And
when from the eminence of his opponents he felt called
upon to do so, he replied with the utmost courtesy and
kindliness. But whilst admitting the high claims to
distinction on other grounds of his antagonist, he pro-
ceeded on this particular question to utterly demolish
him with clear facts and stern irrefutable arguments
and experiments. He called upon his opponents to
observe the facts and make the experiments for them-
selves, instead of citing the opinions of authors centuries
old, or making long discourses on spirits, fuliginous
vapours, and the tides of Euripus. This is well illus-
trated in his replies to Riolan. The arguments of
Riolan would hardly seem to have entitled him to the
honour of the special notice of the great discoverer.
But probably his position as Anatomist in the University
of Paris, and of physician to the Queen-Mother, Marie
de Medicis, made Harvey pick out his criticisms as a
suitable excuse for replying to his opponents. Harvey's
mode of argument is well shown by the following
admirable remarks on the Manner and Order of Acquir-
ing Knowledge, in his introduction to the work on
"The Generation of Animals " : "Sensible things are of
themselves and antecedent ; things of intellect however
are consequential and arise from the former, and indeed
we can in no way attain to them without the help of
the others. And hence it is that without the due
admonition of the senses, without frequent observation
and reiterated experiment, our mind goes astray after
phantoms and appearances. Diligent observation is
therefore requisite in every science, and the senses are
to be frequently appealed to. We are, I say, to strive

' Vide Second Reply to Riolan, p. 133 post.

xx Editor's Introduction

after personal experience, not to rely on the experience
of others: without which indeed no one can properly
become a student of any branch of natural science."
Referring to his own particular work he says : " I would
not have you therefore, gentle reader, to take anything
on trust from me concerning the Generation of Animals :
I appeal to your own eyes as my witness and judge.
For as all true science rests upon those principles which
have their origin in the operation of the senses, par-
ticular care is to be taken that by repeated dissection
the grounds of our present subject be fully established.
. . . The method of investigating truth commonly
pursued at this time therefore is to be held erroneous
and almost foolish, in which so many inquire what
others have said, and omit to r.sk whether the things
themselves be actually so or not."

When the King made Oxford his headquarters,
Harvey was with him, and was appointed head of
Merton College. But in 1646, on Oxford surrender-
ing to the Parliamentary forces, he gave up his warden-
ship and quitted the city. Having no call to take an
active part in the political contest, and now verging
on threescore-and-ten, he retired from his position
of physician to the King and went to London, where
he was hospitably entertained in the houses of his
brothers, who were wealthy merchants in the City.
Here he no doubt once again devoted himself to
scientific observation, the nature of which became
evident, when in 1651 he was persuaded, somewhat
against his own inclination, by his friend, Dr. George
Ent, to allow the publication of his book on " The
Generation of Animals." In this work he appears as
a pioneer in the difficult science of Embryology,
working under most adverse conditions, for he had
no microscope worthy of the name. Whilst, therefore,
of no great value in the light of our present know-
ledge, it is a monument of the author's industry and
of his enthusiastic devotion to physiological research.

Editor's Introduction xxi

It contains a great number of acute and interesting
observations; and he had evidently made man)- more,
for he says that his papers on the Generation of

Insects were lost as a result of the tumults which
arose at the outbreak of the Civil War. He told
Aubrey that no grief was so crucifying to him as the
loss of these papers. The King took a direct personal
interest in these investigations, 1 and supplied him with
deer from the Royal Parks in order to further them.

In two respects the work on Generation is worthy
of more than a mere passing notice, and entitles its
author to the possession of almost prophetic genius.
The first is the enunciation of the great generalisation
otnnt vivum ex OVO. Although this particular phrase
is nowhere to be found, as is often erroneously stated,
in the treatise on Generation, yet a perusal of Exer-
cises I., LI., and LXII. will convince any one that
Harvey had grasped this great idea, which has since
been so abundantly verified. The other is his doctrine
of Epigenesis, or the formation of the new organism
from the homogeneous substance of the germ by the
successive differentiation of parts, that all parts are
not formed at once and together, but in succession
one after the other He put forward this doctrine of
Epigenesis in contradistinction to that oi Metamorphosis,
according to which the germ was suddenly transformed
into a miniature of the whole organism which subse-
quently grew. This is certainly very remarkable, and
entitles him to be regarded as a forerunner of Caspar
Wolff, Von Baer, and the modern Evolutionary School,
which sees in the development of the organism from
the ovum a passage from the homogeneous to the
heterogeneous by a gradual process of differentiation,
from a germ in which there is no sign of any of the
parts of the adult to an organism with all its many
and varied organs. Commenting on certain passages
of Exercise XLY., in which Harvey specially refers

1 De Generatione Ex. lxix.

xxii Editor's Introduction

to this subject, the late Professor Huxley' remarked :
" In these words, by the divination of genius, Harvey
in the seventeenth century summarised the outcome
of the work of all those who, with appliances he could
not dream of, are continuing his labours in the
nineteenth century." 1

In addition to his long sojourn in Italy as a student,
Harvey made several other visits to the Continent. In
1630 he consented to accompany the young Duke of
Lennox in his travels abroad. He had returned by
1632, for in that year he was formally appointed
physician to Charles I. Again, in 1636 he accom-
panied the Earl of Arundel on his embassy to the
Emperor, and was absent some nine months. Accord-
ing to Aubrey, in 1649 Harvey, with his friend Dr.
George Ent, again visited Italy. Some doubt has
been thrown on this journey, but it receives support
from a letter of Harvey's to John Nardi, of Florence,
written on November 30, 1653, in which he concludes
by asking his correspondent to mention his name
to his Serene Highness the Duke of Tuscany, " with
thankfulness for the distinguished honour he did me
when I was formerly in Florence."

In his old age Harvey was honoured in a striking
manner by those best fitted to judge of the merit and
value of his life's work. His statue was erected in the
hall of the College of Physicians. As an acknowledg-
ment, as it were, of this remarkable compliment, he
built at his own expense a Convocation Hall and a
Library as additions to the College, and contributed
books, curiosities, and surgical instruments for the
Library and Museum. Not content with this, he
made over to the College, the year before he died,
his paternal estate, stipulating that a certain sum out
of it should be employed every year for the delivery
of an Oration in commemoration of benefactors of
the College, and of those who had added anything

1 Evolution : " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 9th ed. 1378.

Iuli tor's Introduction xxiii

'.o medical knowledge during the year. This Oration

S annually delivered by some distinguished member
of the medical profession, and is inseparably associated
with the name of Harvey. This graceful act shows
how in his declining years Harvey's thoughts were
turned to the future. It had for its object to further
the progress of scientific knowledge, to stimulate studies
in the pursuit of which he had shown himself such a
master. He wished when old and infirm, bereft of
the power of again entering the arena of active work
and investigation, to still do something to increase and
extend that knowledge which is of so great service to
mankind — a knowledge of the human body in health
and in disease.

Harvey died on June 3, in the year 1657, in the
eightieth year of his age, and was buried at the
village of Hempstead, in Essex, in a vault which had
been built by his brother Eliab.

E. A. Parkvn.

Lovdon, h'ovembo, 1 906.

xxiv Editors Introduction

The following is a list of Harvey's works, and of the
more important references to his life and discovery: —

"MS. Memorandum Book," dated 1616, entitled "Prse-
lectiones Anatomical Universalis." It is in Harvey's
handwriting, and contains the origin of the Circulation.
(In the British Museum.) A Facsimile was published in
1886 by the College of Physicians.

"MS. De Musculis," 1627, in Harvey's handwriting.
(Brit. Mus.) A Notice on this manuscript was published
in 1850 by G. E. Paget, M.D.

"MS. of Prescriptions," 1647. (Brit. Mus.)

"MS. Diploma of Doctor of Medicine" to Harvey by
University of Padua, April 25, 1602. (In the College of
Physicians.)

" MS. Illuminated Grant of M.D.," by Universityof Padua
to an Englishman, Thomas Heron, which is witnessed by
"Guigliomo Harveo Consiliaris Magniricas NationisAnglae/
It is dated March 19, 1602. (Brit. Mus.)

" MS. Oratio Harveiana," 1661, ab. E. Greaves. (Brit.
Mus.)

"De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis," Frankfort-on-Main,
1628. First English edition published by R. Lowndes,
with preface by Zachariah Wood, Physician of Rotter-
dam, 1653.

" Anatomical Examination of the Body of Thomas Parr,
aged 1 52 years," made in 1635, but not published until 1669
in Betts' " De Ortu et Natura Sanguinis."

" Two Disquisitions in Reply to John Riolan, jun.," 1649.

" De Generatione Animalium," London, 165 1 ; in
English, 1653.

" Biogvaphica Britannica," 1750. The Life of Harvey,
containing much curious information and discussion, is

Editor's Introduction xxv

evidently that on which all subsequent biographies aie
bas<

•• Harveii Opera Omnia,* 1 edited by Dr. Akenside, with
Life by Thomas Lawrence, M.D., 1766.

" Lives and Letters of Eminent Persons," by John
Aubrey, 181 3.

-Records of William Harvey, with Notes," by James
et, of St Bartholomew's Hospital, 184'').

"The Works of William Harvey," translated by Robert
Willis, M.D. (Sydenham Society, 1848). This excellent
translation has been followed in the present volume.

" Histoire de la Decouverte de la Circulation du Sang,"
par M. J. P. Flourens, 1854.

"Circulation of the Blood : its History, Cause, and
Course," by G. H. Lewes in "Physiology of Common
Life,'' 1S59.

" Memorials of Harvey," collected by J. H. Aveling, 1875.

•William Harvey: a history, etc.," by Robert Willis,
M.D., 1878.

" Roll of the Royal College of Physicians," by William
Munk, M.D., 2nd ed., 1S78.

Huxley on "Evolution," in "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
9th ed., 1S78.

"Experimental Physiology," by Sir R. Owen, 1882.

"A Defence of Harvey," by George Johnson, M.D.,

1SS4.

" Masters of Medicine : William Harvey," by DArcy

Power 1897.

NOTE

In the present edition of Harvey's Treatise on the
Circulation of the Blood, which is reprinted from the
Sydenham Society's edition of 1847, the footnotes by
Willis, the editor and translator of that edition, are
distinguished by brackets from Harvey's original notes.

r <ol

vV

o>

MllBRA^Y }

>

Q(LIBRAr,Y)t

TABLE OF CONTEXTS

AN ANATOMICAL DISQUISITION ON THE
MOTION OF THE HEART AND BLOOD IN
ANIMALS

PAGE

DEDICATION 3

INTRODUCTION

CHAP.

I. THE AUTHOR'S MOTIVES FOR WRITING . . 22

II. OK THE MOTIONS OF THE HEART, AS SEEN IN

THE DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS. . 24

III. OF THE MOTIONS OF ARTERIES, AS SEEN IN

THE DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS . . 28

IV. OF THE MOTION OF THE HEART AND ITS

AURICLES, AS SEEN IN THE BODIES OF
LIVING ANIMALS 3 1

V. OF THE MOTION, ACTION, AND OFFICE OF

THE HEART 37

VI. OF THE COURSE BY WHICH THE BLOOD IS
CARRIED FROM THE VENA CAVA INTO THE
ARTERIES, OR FROM THE RIGHT INTO THE
LEFT VENTRICLE OF THE HEART . . 4-

xxvii

xxviii Table of Contents

CHAP. PAGE

VII. THE BLOOD PERCOLATES THE SUBSTANCE OF
THE LUNGS FROM THE RIGHT VENTRICLE
OF THE HEART INTO THE PULMONARY
VEINS AND LEFT VENTRICLE . . -49

VIII. OF THE QUANTITY OF BLOOD PASSING THROUGH
THE HEART FROM THE VEINS TO THE AR-
TERIES ; AND OF THE CIRCULAR MOTION
OF THE BLOOD .... -55

IX. THAT THERE IS A CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD

IS CONFIRMED FROM THE FIRST PROPOSITION 58

X. THE FIRST POSITION: OF THE QUANTITY OF

BLOOD PASSING FROM THE VEINS TO THE
ARTERIES. AND THAT THERE IS A CIRCUIT
OF THE BLOOD, FREED FROM OBJECTIONS,
AND FARTHER CONFIRMED BY EXPERIMENT 64

XI. THE SECOND POSITION IS DEMONSTRATED . 67

XII. THAT THERE IS A CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD
IS SHOWN FROM THE SECOND POSITION
DEMONSTRATED 75

XIII. THE THIRD POSITION IS CONFIRMED: AND THE

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS DEMON-
STRATED FROM IT 78

XIV. CONCLUSION OF THE DEMONSTRATION OF THE

CIRCULATION 85

XV. THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS FURTHER

CONFIRMED BY PROBABLE REASONS . . 86

XVI. THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS FURTHER

PROVED FROM CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES 90

Table of Contents xxix

CHAP. I-Aoc

XVII. THE MOTION AND CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD
ARE CONFIRMED PROM THE PARTICULARS
APPARENT IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE
HEART, AND FROM THOSE THINGS WHICH
DISSECTION UNFOLDS 96

THE FIRST ANATOMICAL DISQUISITION
ONTHE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD,
ADDRESSED TO JOHN RIOLAN , . m

A SECOND DISQUISITION TO JOHN RIO-
LAX ; IN WHICH MANY OBJECTIONS
TO THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD
ARE REFUTED ... .131

LETTERS

TO CASPAR HOFMANN, M.D 173

TO PAUL MARQUARD SLEGLL, OF HAMBURG . 176

TO THE VERY EXCELLENT JOHN NARDI, OF FLORENCE 184

IN REPLY TO R. MORISON, M.D., OF PARIS . .185

TO THE MOST EXCELLENT AND LEARNED JOHN

NARDI, OF FLORENCE . . 193

TO JOHN DANIEL HORST, PRINCIPAL PHYSICIAN OF

HESSE-DARMSTADT 195

TO THE DISTINGUISHED AND LEARNED JOHN DAN.
HORST, PRINCIPAL PHYSICIAN AT THE COURT OF
HESSE-DARMSTADT 197

xxx Table of Contents

PAGE

TO THE VERY LEARNED JOHN NARDI, OF FLORENCE,
A MAN DISTINGUISHED ALIKE FOR HIS VIRTUES,
LIFE, AND ERUDITION 199

TO THE DISTINGUISHED AND ACCOMPLISHED JOHN

VLACKVELD, PHYSICIAN AT HARLEM . . . 200

APPENDIX

THE ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION OF THE BODY OF
THOMAS PARR, WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF ONE
HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO YEARS ; MADE BY
WILLIAM HARVEY 205

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM

HARVEY, M.D. . 212

INDEX 223

AN ANATOMICAL DISQUISITION

ON THE

MOTION OF THE HEART AND
BLOOD IN ANIMALS

c 2& »

TO

THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND INDOMITABLE

PRINCE

CHARLES

king of great britain, france, and ireland
defender of the faith

Most illustrious Prince !

The heart of animals is the foundation of their
life, the sovereign of everything within them, the
sun of their microcosm, that upon which all growth
depends, from which all power proceeds. The King,
in like manner, is the foundation of his kingdom,
the sun of the world around him, the heart of the
republic, the fountain whence all power, all grace
doth flow. What I have here written of the motions
of the heart I am the more emboldened to present
to your Majesty, according to the custom of the
present age, because almost all things human are
done after human examples, and many things in a
King are after the pattern of the heart. The know-
ledge of his heart, therefore, will not be useless to a
Prince, as embracing a kind of Divine example of
his functions, — and it has still been usual with men

3

4 To Prince Charles

to compare small things with great. Here, at all
events, best of Princes, placed as you are on the
pinnacle of human affairs, you may at once con-
template the prime mover in the body of man, and
the emblem of your own sovereign power. Accept
therefore, with your wonted clemency, I most humbly
beseech you, illustrious Prince, this, my new Treatise
on the Heart : you, who are yourself the new light
of this age, and indeed its very heart ; a Prince
abounding in virtue and in grace, and to whom we
gladly refer all the blessings which England enjoys,
all the pleasure we have in our lives.

Your Majesty's most devoted servant,

William Harvey.
London, 1628.

To his very dear Friend, DOCTOR ARGENT,
the excellent and accomplished President
of the Royal College of Physicians, and to

other learned Physicians, his most esteemed
Colleagues.

•&'

I have already and repeatedly presented you, my
learned friends, with my new views of the motion
and function of the heart, in my anatomical lectures ;
but having now for nine years and more confirmed
these views by multiplied demonstrations in your
presence, illustrated them by arguments, and freed
them from the objections of the most learned and
skilful anatomists, I at length yield to the requests,
I might say entreaties, of many, and here present
them for general consideration in this treatise.

Were not the work indeed presented through you,
my learned friends, I should scarce hope that it could
come out scatheless and complete ; for you have in
general been the faithful witnesses of almost all the
instances from which I have either collected the truth
or confuted error ; you have seen my dissections,
and at my demonstrations of all that I maintain to
be objects of sense, you have been accustomed to

5

6 Dedication

stand by and bear me out with your testimony,
And as this book alone declares the blood to course
and revolve by a new route, very different from the
ancient and beaten pathway trodden for so many
ages, and illustrated by such a host of learned and
distinguished men, I was greatly afraid lest I might
be charged with presumption did' I lay my work
before the public at home, or send it beyond seas
for impression, unless I had first proposed its subject
to you, had confirmed its conclusions by ocular
demonstrations in your presence, had replied to your
doubts and objections, and secured the assent and
support of our distinguished President. For I was
most intimately persuaded, that if I could make good
my proposition before you and our College, illustrious
by its numerous body of learned individuals, I had
less to fear from others ; I even ventured to hope
that I should have the comfort of finding all that
you had granted me in your sheer love of truth,
conceded by others who were philosophers like your-
selves. For true philosophers, who are only eager
for truth and knowledge, never regard themselves as
already so thoroughly informed, but that they welcome
further information from whomsoever and from whence-
soever it may come; nor are they so narrow-minded
as to imagine any of the arts or sciences transmitted
to us by the ancients, in such a state of forwardness
or completeness, that nothing is left for the ingenuity
and industry of others ; very many, on the contrary,

Dedication 7

maintain that all we know is still infinitely less than
all that still remains unknown : nor do philosophers
pin their faith to others' precepts in such wise that
they lose their liberty, and cease to give credence to
the conclusions of their proper senses. Neither do
they swear such fealty to their mistress Antiquity,
that they openly, and in sight of all, deny and d(
their friend Truth. But even as they see that the
credulous and vain are disposed at the first blush to
accept and to believe everything that is proposed to
them, so do they observe that the dull and unintel-
lectual are indisposed to see what lies before their
eyes, and even to deny the light of the noonday
sun. They teach us in our course of philosophy as
sedulously to avoid the fables of the poets and the
fancies of the vulgar, as the false conclusions of
the sceptics. And then the studious, and good, and
true, never suffer their minds to be warped by the
passions of hatred and envy, which unfit men duly
to weigh the arguments that are advanced in behalf
of truth, or to appreciate the proposition that is even
fairly demonstrated ; neither do they think it unworthy
of them to change their opinion if truth and un-
doubted demonstration require them so to do; nor
do they esteem it discreditable to desert error, though
sanctioned by the highest antiquity ; for they know
full well that to err, to be deceived, is human ; that
many things are discovered by accident, and that many
may be learned indifferently from any quarter, by an

8 Dedication

old man from a youth, by a person of understanding
from one of inferior capacity.

My dear colleagues, I had no purpose to swell
this treatise into a large volume by quoting the
names and writings of anatomists, or to make a
parade of the strength of my memory, the extent of
my reading, and the amount of my pains ; because
I profess both to learn and to teach anatomy, not
from books but from dissections ; not from the posi-
tions of philosophers but from the fabric of nature ;
and then because I do not think it right or proper
to strive to take from the ancients any honour that
is their due, nor yet to dispute with the moderns,
and enter into controversy with those who have
excelled in anatomy and been my teachers, I would
not charge with wilful falsehood any one who was
sincerely anxious for truth, nor lay it to any one's
door as a crime that he had fallen into error. I
avow myself the partisan of truth alone ; and I can
indeed say that I have used all my endeavours,
bestowed all my pains on an attempt to produce
something that should be agreeable to the good,
profitable to the learned, and useful to letters.
Farewell, most worthy Doctors,

And think kindly of your Anatomist,

William Harvey.

AN ANATOMICAL DISQUISITION

ON THE

MOTION 1 OF THE HEART AND
BLOOD IN ANIMALS

INTRODUCTION

As we are about to discuss the motion, action, and use
of the heart and arteries, it is imperative on us first to
state what has been thought of these things by others
in their writings, and what has been held by the vulgar
and by tradition, in order that what is true may be
confirmed, and what is false set right by dissection,
multiplied experience, and accurate observation.

Almost all anatomists, physicians, and philosophers,
up to the present time, have supposed, with Galen, that
the object of the pulse was the same as that of respira-
tion', and only differed in one particular, this being
conceived to depend on the animal, the respiration on
the vital faculty ; the two, in all other respects, whether
with reference to purpose or to motion, comporting
themselves alike. Whence it is affirmed, as by
Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente, in his book
on " Respiration," which has lately appeared, that as
the pulsation of the heart and arteries does not suffice
for the ventilation and refrigeration of the blood, there-
fore were the lungs fashioned to surround the heart.
From this it appears, that whatever has hitherto been
said upon the systole and diastole, on the motion of

9

io On the Heart and Blood

the heart and arteries, has been said with especial
reference to the lungs.

But as the structure and movements of the heart,
differ from those of the lungs, and the motions of the
arteries from those of the chest, so seems it likely that
other ends and offices will thence arise, and that the
pulsations and uses of the heart, likewise of the arteries,
will differ in many respects from the heavings and uses
of the chest and lungs. For did the arterial pulse and
the respiration serve the same ends ; did the arteries in
their diastole take air into their cavities, as commonly
stated, and in their systole emit fuliginous vapours by
the same pores of the flesh and skin ; and further, did
they, in the time intermediate between the diastole and
the systole, contain air, and at all times either air, or
spirits, or fuliginous vapours, what should then be said
to Galen, who wrote a book on purpose to .show thatJoy
nature the arteries contained blood, and nothing but
blood ; neither .spirits nor air, consequently, as may be
readily gathered from the experiments and reasonings
contained in the same book ? Now if the arteries are
filled in the diastole with air then taken into them (a
larger quantity of air penetrating when the pulse is large
and full), it must come to pass, that if you plunge into
a bath of water or of oil when the pulse is strong and
full, it ought forthwith to become either smaller or
much slower, since the circumambient bath will render
it either difficult or impossible for the air to penetrate.
In like manner, as all the arteries, those that are deep-
seated as well as those that are superficial, are dilated
at the same instant, and with the same rapidity, how
were it possible that air should penetrate to the deeper
parts as freely and quickly through the skin, flesh, and
other structures, as through the mere cuticle ? And
how should the arteries of the foetus draw air into their
cavities through the abdomen of the mother and the
body of the womb? And how should seals, whales,
dolphins, and other cetaceans, and fishes of every

Introduction i I

description, living in the depths of the sea, take in
and emit air by the diastole and systole of their arteries
through the infinite mass of waters ? For to say that
they absorb the air that is infixed in the water, and emit
their fumes into this medium, were to utter something
very like a mere figment. And if the arteries in their
systole expel fuliginous vapours from their cavities
through the pores of the flesh and skin, why not the
spirits, which are said to be contained in these vessels,
at the same time, since spirits are much more subtile
than fuliginous vapours or smoke? And further, if the
arteries take in and cast out air in the systole and
diastole, like the lungs in the process of respiration,
wherefore do they not do the same thing when a wound
is made in one of them, as is done in the operation
of arteriotomy ? When the windpipe is divided, it is
sufficiently obvious th; t the air enters and returns
through the wound by two opposite movements ; but
when an artery is divided, it is equally manifest that
blood escapes in one continuous stream, and that no
air either enters or issues. If the pulsations of the
arteries fan and refrigerate the several parts of the body
as the lungs do the heart, how comes it, as is commonly
said, that the arteries carry the vital blood into the
different parts, abundantly charged with vital spirits,
which cherish the heat of these parts, sustain them
when asleep, and recruit them when exhausted ? and
how should it happen that, if you tie the arteries,
immediately the parts not only become torpid, and
frigid, and look pale, but at length cease even to be
nourished ? This, according to Galen, is because they
are deprived of the heat which flowed through all parts
from the heart, as its source ; whence it would appear
that the arteries rather carry warmth to the parts than
serve for any fanning or refrigeration. Besides, how
can the diastole [of the arteries] draw spirits from the
heart to warm the body and its parts, and, from without,
means of cooling or tempering them ? Still further,

12 On the Heart and Blood

although some affirm that the lungs, arteries, and heart
have all the same offices, they yet maintain that the
heart is the workshop of the spirits, and that the arteries
contain and transmit them ; denying, however, in oppo-
sition to the opinion of Columbus, that the lungs can
either make or contain spirits ; and then they assert,
with Galen, against Erasistratus, that it is blood, not
spirits, which is contained in the arteries.

These various opinions are seen to be so incongruous
and mutually subversive, that every one of them is not
unjustly brought under suspicion. That it_is blood and
blood alone which is contained in the arteneirls - hTade
manifest by the experiment of Galen, by arteriotomy,
and by wounds ; for from a single artery divided, as
Galen himself affirms in more than one place, the whole
of the blood may be withdrawn in the course of half
an hour, or less. The experiment of Galen alluded to is
this : " If you include a ,porUaD.._of_an_artery between
two ligatures, and slit it-ope^4eftg4hwaySy-yeu--will find
nothing butl5Tood; ,r and thus _he j^ovesjthaLthe .arteries
contain blood only. And we too may be permitted to
procee3"by"a like train of reasoning : if we find the same
blood in the arteries that we find in the veins, which we
have tied in the same way, as I have myself repeatedly
ascertained, both in the dead body and in living animals,
we may fairly conclude that the arteries contain the same
blood as the veins, and nothing but the same blood.
Some, whilst they attempt to lessen the difficulty here,
affirming that the blood is spirituous and arterious,
virtually concede that the office of the arteries is to
carry blood from the heart into the whole of the body,
and that they are therefore filled with blood ; for
spirituous blood is not the less blood on that account.
And then no one denies that the blood as such, even
the portion of it which flows in the veins, is imbued with
spirits. But if that portion which is contained in the
arteries be richer in spirits, it is still to be believed that
these spirits are inseparable from the blood, like those

Introduction 13

in the veins : that the blood and spirits constitute one
body (like whey and butler in milk, or heat [and water]
in hot water), with which the arteries are charged, and
for the distribution of which from the heart they are
provided, and that this body is nothing else than blood.
But if this blood be said to be drawn from the heart
into the arteries by the diastole of these vessels, it is
then assumed that the arteries by their distension are
rilled with blood, and not with the ambient air, as here-
tofore ; for if they be said also to become filled with air
from the ambient atmosphere, how and when, I ask,
can they receive blood from the heart? If it be
answered : during the systole ; I say, that seems im-
possible ; the arteries would then have to fill whilst
they contracted ; in other words, to fill, and yet not
become distended. But if it be said : during the
diastole, they would then, and for two opposite pur-
poses, be receiving both blood anr" air, and heat and
cold ; which is improbable. Further, when it is
affirmed that the diastole of the heart and arteries
is simultaneous, and the systole of the two is also
concurrent, there is another incongruity. For how can
two bodies mutually connected, which are simulta-
neously distended, attract or draw anything from one
another; or, being simultaneously contracted, receive
anything from each other ? And then, it seems im-
possible that one body can thus attract another body
into itself, so as to become distended, seeing that to be
distended is to be passive, unless, in the manner of a
sponge, previously compressed by an external force,
whilst it is returning to its natural state. But it is
difficult to conceive that there can be anything of this
kind in the arteries. The arteries dilate, because they
are filled like bladders or leathern bottles; they are not
filled because they expand like bellows. This I think
easy of demonstration; and indeed conceive that I have
already proved it. Nevertheless, in that book of Galen
headed " Quod Sanguis continetur in Arteriis," he quotes

14 On the Heart and Blood

an experiment to prove the contrary : An artery having
been exposed, is opened longitudinally, and a reed or
other pervious tube, by which the blood is prevented
from being lost, and the wound is closed, is inserted
into the vessel through the opening. "So long," he
says, " as things are thus arranged, the whole artery
will pulsate ; but if you now throw a ligature about the
vessel and tightly compress its tunics over the tube, you
will no longer see the artery beating beyond the ligature."
I have never performed this experiment of Galen's, nor
do I think that it could very well be performed in the
living body, on account of the profuse flow of blood
that would take place from the vessel which was
operated on ; neither would the tube effectually close
the wound in the vessel without a ligature; and I cannot
doubt but that the blood would be found to flow out
between the tube and the vessel. Still Galen appears
by this experiment to prove both that the pulsative
faculty extends from the heart by the walls of the
arteries, and that the arteries, whilst they dilate, are
filled by that pulsific force, because they expand, like
bellows, and do not dilate because they'are filled like
skins. But the contrary is obvious in arteriotomy and
in wounds; for the blood spurting from the- arteries
escapes _with__force, now farther, now not so far, alter-
nately, or in jets ; and the jet always takes place with
the diastole of the artery, never with the systole. By
which it clearly appears that the artery is dilated by the
impulse of the blood ; for of itself it would not throw
the blood to such a distance, and whilst it was dilating;
it ought rather to draw air into its cavity through the
wound, were those things true that are commonly stated
concerning the uses of the arteries. Nor let the thick-
ness of the arterial tunics impose upon us, and lead us
to conclude that the pulsative property proceeds along
them from the heart. For in several animals the arteries
do not apparently differ from the veins; and in extreme
parts of the body, where the arteries are minutely sub-

Introduction 15

divided, as in the brain, the hand, &C, no one could
distinguish the arteries from the veins by the dissimilar
characters of their coats ; the tunics of both are identical.
And then, in an aneurism proceeding from a wounded
or eroded artery, the pulsation is precisely the same as
in the other arteries, and yet it has no proper arterial
tunic. This the learned Riolanus testifies to, along
with me, in his Seventh Book.

N r let any one imagine that the uses of the pulse
and the respiration are the same, because under the
intluer.ee of the same causes, such as running, anger,
the warm bath, or any other heating thing, as Galen
says, they become more frequent and forcible together.
. not only is experience in opposition to this idea,
though Galen ende avours to e xplain it a way, when we
see that with excessive repletion the pulse beats more
for cibly^ w hilst the respiration is diminished in amount;
but in young persons the pulse is quick, whilst
respiration is slow. So is it also in alarm, and amidst
care, and under anxiety of mind ; sometimes, too, in
fevers, the pulse is rapid, but the respiration is slower
than usual.

These and other objections of the same kind may be
urged against the opinions mentioned. Nor are the
views that are entertained of the offices and pulse of
the heart, perhaps, less bound up with great and most
inextricable difficulties. The heart, it is vulgarly said,
is the fountain and workshop of the vital spirits, the
centre from whence life is dispensed to the several
parts of the body ; and yet it is denied that the right
ventricle makes spirits ; it is rather held to supply
nourishment to the lungs ; whence it is maintained that
fishes are without any right ventricle (and indeed every
animal wants a right ventricle which is unfurnished
with lungs), and that the right ventricle is present
solely for the sake of the lungs.

1. Why, I ask, when we see that the structure of
both ventricles is almost identical, there being the same

16 On the Heart and Blood

apparatus of fibres, and braces, and valves, and vessels,
and auricles, and in both the same infarction of blood,
in the subjects of our dissections, of the like black
colour, and coagulated — why. I say ..^should their uses
be imagined to be different, when the action, motion,
and pulse of both are the same ? If the three tricuspid
valves placed at the entrance into the right ventricle
prove obstacles to the reflux of the blood into the
vena cava, and if the three semilunar valves which are
situated at the commencement of the pulmonary artery
be there, that they may prevent the return of the blood
into the ventricle ; wherefore, when we find similar
structures in connexion with the left ventricle, should
we deny that they are there for the same end, of
preventing here the egress, there the regurgitation of
the blood ?

2. And again, when we see that these structures, in
point of size, form, and situation, are almost in every
respect the same in the left as in the right ventricle,
wherefore should it be maintained that things are here
arranged in connexion with the egress and regress of
spirits, there, i.e. in the right, of blood? The same
arrangement cannot be held fitted to favour or impede
the motion of blood and of spirits indifferently.

3. And when we observe that the passages and vessels
are severally in relation to one another in point of
size, viz., the pulmonary artery to the pulmonary veins ;
wherefore should the one be imagined destined to a
private or particular purpose, that, to wit, of nourishing
the lungs, the other to a public and general function ?

4. And, as Realdus Columbus says, how can it be
conceived that such a quantity of blood should be
required for the nutrition of the lungs ; the vessel that
leads to them, the vena arteriosa or pulmonary artery
being of greater capacity than both the iliac veins ?

5. And I ask further : as the lungs are so close at
hand, and in continual motion, and the vessel that
supplies them is of such dimensions, what is the use

Introduction 17

or meaning of the pulse of the right ventricle ? and
why was nature reduced to the necessity of adding
another ventricle for the sole purpose of nourishing
the lungs ?

When it is said that the left ventricle obtains materials
for the formation of spirits, air to wi t, and blood, from
the lungs and right sinuses of the heart, and in like
manner sends spirituous blo od into the aorta, drawing
fuliginous vapours tro m~ thenc e, and sending them by
the arteria venosa into the lungs, whence spirits are at
the same time obtained for transmission into the aorta,
I ask h ow, and by what means, i^ thfi se paration
eff ected ? and how comes it that spirits and fuliginous
vapours can pass hither and thither without admixture
or confusion. If the mit ral cuspidate valves d o not
prevent_ the egre ss of fuliginous vapours to the lungs,
ho w should they oppose the escape of a ir ? and .how
shoul d the semilun ar'* hinHpr thp rpgrpss of spirits from
the aorta upon each supervening diastole of the_heart ?
ancTTaUove all, how can they say that the spirituous
blood is sent from the arteria venalis (pulmonary veins)
by the left ventricle into the lungs without any obstacle
to its passage from the mitral valves, when they have
previously asserted that the air entered by the same
vessel from the lungs into the left ventricle, and have
brought forward these same mitral valves as obstacles
to its retrogression ? G ood God ! h o w should the
mitral valves prevent regurgitation of air and not of
blood ?

Further, when t hey d edicate the vena ^arteriosa (or
pulmonary artery), a vessel of great size, andnaving the
tunics of an artery, to none but a kind of pr ivate and
single , purpose, that, namely, of nourishing the lu ngs,
why should the arteria venalis (or pulmonary vein),
which is scarcely of similar size, which has the coats of
a vein, and is soft and lax, be presumed to be made for
many — three or four, different uses ? For they will
have it that air passes through this vessel from the

d 2i2

18 On the Heart and Blood

lungs into the left ven tricle : that fuliginous vapours
escape by it from the heart into the lungs ; and that
a portion of the spirituous or spiritualized blood is dis-
tributed by it to the lungs for their refreshment.

If they will have it that fumes and air — fumes flowing
from, air proceeding towards the heart— are transmitted
by the same conduit, I reply, that nature is not wont to
institute but one vessel, to contrive but one way for
such contrary motions and purposes, nor is anything
of the kind seen elsewhere.

If fumes or fuliginous vapours and air permeate this
vessel, as they do the pulmonary bronchia, wherefore
do we find neither air nor fuliginous vapours when we
divide the arteria venosa ? why do we always find this
vessel full of sluggish blood, never of air ? whilst in the
lungs we find abundance of air remaining.

If any one will perform Galen's experiment of dividing
the trachea of a living dog, forcibly distending the lungs
with a pair of bellows, and then tying the trachea
securely, he will find, when he has laid open the
thorax, abundance of air in the lungs, even to their
extreme investing tunic, but none in either the pulmonary
veins, or left ventricle of the heart. But did the heart
either attract air from the lungs, or did the lungs
transmit any air to the heart, in the living dog, by so
much the more ought this to be the case in the
experiment just referred to. AYho, indeed, doubts that,
did he inflate the lungs of a subject in the dissecting-
room, he would instantly see the air making its way by
this route, were there actually any such passage for it ?
But this office of the pulmonary veins, namely, the
transference of air from the lungs to the heart, is held
of such importance, that Hieronymus Fabricius, of
Aquapendente, maintains the lungs were made for the
sake of this vessel, and that it constitutes the principal
element in their structure.

But I should like to be informed wherefore, if the
pulmonary vein were destined for the conveyance of

Introduction 19

air, it ha- the structure of a blood-vessel here. Nature
had rather need of annular tubes, such as those of the
\jumv ler that they might always remain open,

i- : have ! -..en liable to collapse; and that they might
continue entirely free from blood, lest the liquid should
interfere with the passage of the air, as it so obviously
does when the lungs labour from being either greatly
oppressed or loaded in a less degree with phlegm, as
they are when the breathing is performed with a sibilous
or rattling noise.

Still less is that opinion to be tolerated which (as a
twofold matter, one aereal, one sanguineous, is required
for the composition of vital spirits,) supposes the blood
to ooze through the septum of the heart from the right to
the left ventricle by certain secret pores, and the air
to be attracted from the lungs through the great vessel,
the pulmonary vein; and which will have it, conse-
quently, that there are numerous, pores in the septum
cordis adapted for the transmission of the blood. But,
in faithT'no such pores can be demonstrated, neither in
fact do any such exist. For the septum of the heart
is of a denser and more compact structure than any
portion of the body, except the bones arid sinews.
But even supposing- that-thei g were foramina or pores
in this situation, how could one of the ventricles extract
anything from-the other — the left, e.g., obtain blood from
therrigTit, when we see that both^y^ntrjij£sxoaitracJ: and
dilat e simultan eously ? \TTTerelore~should we not rather
believe that the right took spirits from the left, than
that the left obtained blood from the right ventricle,
through these foramina? But it is certainly mysterious
and incongruous that blood should be supposed to be
most commodiously drawn through a set of obscure or
invisible pores, and air through perfectly open passages,
at one and the same moment. And why, 1 ask, is
recourse had to secret and invisible porosities, to
uncertain and obscure channels, to explain the passage
of the blood into the left ventricle, when there is so

20 On the Heart and Blood

open a way through the pulmonary veins ? I own it
has always appeared extraordinary to me that they
should have chosen to make, or rather to imagine, a
way through the thick, hard, and extremely compact
substance of the septum cordis, rather than to take that
by the open vas venosum or pulmonary vein, or even
through the lax, soft, and spongy substance of the lungs
at large. Besides, if the blood could permeate the
substance of the septum, or could be imbibed from
the ventricles, what use were there for the coronary
artery and vein, branches of which proceed to the
septum itself, to supply it with nourishment ? And what
is especially worthy of notice is this : if in the fcetus,
where everything is more lax and soft, nature saw
herself reduced to the necessity of bringing the blood
from the right into the left side of the heart by the
foramen ovale, from the vena cava through the arteria
venosa, how should it be likely that in the adult she
should pass it so commodiously, and without an effort,
through the septum ventriculorum, which has now
become denser by age ?

Andreas Laurentius, 1 resting on the authority of
Galen 2 and the experience of Hollerius, asserts and
proves that the serum and pus in empyema, absorbed
from the cavities of the chest into the pulmonary vein,
may be expelled and got rid of with the urine and faeces
through the left ventricle of the heart and arteries.
He quotes the case of a certain person affected with
melancholia, and who suffered from repeated fainting
fits, who was relieved from the paroxysms on passing
a quantity of turbid, fetid, and acrid urine ; but he died
at last, worn out by the disease ; and when the body
came to be opened after death, no fluid like that he had
micturated was discovered either in the bladder or in
the kidneys ; but in the left ventricle of the heart and
cavity of the thorax plenty of it was met with ; and then

* Lib. ix, cap. xi, quest. 12.

3 Dc Locis Affectis., lib. vi, cap. 7.

Introduction 21

I~iurentius boasts that he had predicted the cause of
the symptoms. For my own part, however, I cannot
but wonder, since he had divined and predicted that
:ogencous matter could be discharged by the course
he indicates, why he could not or would not perceive,
and inform us that, in the natural state of things, the
blood might be commodiuusly transferred from the lungs
to the left ventricle of the heart by the very same route.
Since, therefore, from the foregoing considerations
and many others to the same effect, it is plain that what
has heretofore been said concerning the motion and
function of the heart and arteries must appear obscure,
or inconsistent or even impossible to him who carefully
considers the entire subject ; it will be proper to look,
more narrowly into the matter ; to contemplate the
motion of the heart and arteries, not only in man, but
in all animals that have hearts ; and further, by frequent
appeals to vivisection, and constant ocular inspection,
to investigate and endeavour to find the truth.

!RAHY

+

V

CHAPTER I

THE AUTHOR S MOTIVES FOR WRITING

When I first gave my mind to vivisections, as a means
of discovering the motions and uses of the heart, and
sought to discover these from actual inspection, and not
from the writings of others, I found the task so truly
arduous, so full of difficulties, that I was almost tempted
to think, with Fracastorius, that the motion of the heart
was only to be comprehended by God. For I could
neither rightly oerceive at first when the systole and
when the diasto^ took place, nor when and where
dilatation and contraction occurred, by reason of the
rapidity of the motion, which in many animals is
accomplished in the twinkling of an eye, coming and
going like a flash of lightning ; so that the systole pre-
sented itself to me now from this point, now from that ;
the diastole the same; and then everything was
reversed, the motions occurring, as it seemed, variously
and confusedly together. My mind was therefore
greatly unsettled, nor did I know what I should myself
conclude, nor what believe from others ; I was not
surprised that Andreas Laurentius should have said
that the motion of the heart was as perplexing as the
flux and reflux of Euripus had appeared to Aristotle.

At length, and by using greater and daily diligence,
having frequent recourse to vivisections, employing a
variety of animals for the purpose, and collating
numerous observations, I thought that I had attained
to the truth, that I should extricate myself and escape
from this labyrinth, and that I had discovered what I so
much desired, both the motion and the use of the heart
and arteries ; since which time I have not hesitated to

22

Motion of the Heart and Blood - ;

e^ pose my \ iews upon these Bubjects, not only in ;

to my friends but also in public, in my anatomical

lectures, after the manner of the Academy of old.

These views, as usual, pleased some more, others
less ; some chid and calumniated me, and laid it to me as
a crime that 1 had dared to depart from the precepts
anil opinion of all anatomists ; others desired further
explanations of the novelties, which they said were both
w irthy of consideration, and might perchance be found
of signal use. At length, yielding to the requests of
my friends, that all might be made participators in my
labours, and partly moved by the envy of others, who

eiving my views with uncandid minds and under-
standing them indifferently, have essayed to traduce me
publicly, I have been moved to commit these things to
the press, in order that all may be enabled to form an
opinion both of me and my labours. This step I take
all the more willingly, seeing that Hieronymus Fabricius
of Aquapendente, although he has accurately and
learnedly delineated almost every one of the several
parts of animals in a special work, has left the heart
alone untouched. Finally, if any use or benefit to this
department of the republic of letters should accrue from
my labours, it will, perhaps, be allowed that I have not
lived idly, and, as the old man in the comedy says :

For never yet has any one attained

To such perfection, but that time, and place,

And use, have brought addition to his knowledge ;

Or made correction, or admonished him,

That he was ignorant of much which he

Had thought he knew ; or led him to reject

What he had once esteemed of highest price.

So will it, perchance, be found with reference to the
heart at this time ; or others, at least, starting from
hence, the way pointed out to them, advancing under
the guidance of a happier genius, may make occasion
to proceed more fortunately, and to inquire more
accurately.

CHAPTER II

OF THE MOTIONS OF THE HEART, AS SEEN IN THE
DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS

In the first place, then, when the chest of a living
animal is laid open and the capsule that immediately
surrounds the heart is slit up or removed, the organ is
seen now to move, now to be at rest j — there is a_time
whe n it mov es, and a ti me when it is motio nless.

These things are more obvious in the colder animals,
such as toads, frogs, serpents, small fishes, crabs,
shrimps, snails, and shell-fish. They also become more
distinct in warm-blooded animals, such as the dog and
hog, if they be attentively noted when the^heart begins
to flag, to move more slowly, and, as it were, to die :
the movements then become slower and rarer, the
pauses longer, by whicTTit is made much more easy to
perceive and unravel what the motions really are, and
how they are performed. In the pause, as in death,
the heart is soft, flaccid, exhausted, lying, as it were,
at rest.

In the motion, and interval in which this is accom-
plished, three principal circumstances are to be noted :

i. That the heart is erected, and rises upwards to a
point, so that at this time it strikes, against the breast
and the pulse is felt externally.

2. That it is everywhere contracted,^ but more
especially towards the sides, so that it looks narrower,
relativel y longer, more drawn to gether. The heart of
an eel taken out of the body of the animal and placed
upon the table or the hand, shows these particulars ;

24

Motion of the Heart and I Hood 25

but the same things arc manifest in the heart of small
fishes and of those colder animals where the organ is
more conical or elongated.

3. The heart hcing_ grasped _]n the hand, is felt to
become harder durin g its action. Now this hardness
proceeds from tension, precisely as when the forearm is
grasped, ksTendons are perceived to become tense and
resilient when the fingers are moved.

4. It may further be observed in fishes, and the
colder blooded animals, such as frogs, serpents, &c,
that the heart, when it moves, becomes of a paler
colour, when quiescent of a deeper blood-red colour.

From these particulars it appeared evident to me that
the motion of the heart consists in a certain universal
te nsion — both con tractio n in the line of its fibres, and
constriction in every sense. It becomes erect, hard,
and of diminished size during its action ; the motion is
plainly of the same nature as that of the muscles when
they contract in the line of their sinews and fibres ; for
the muscles, when in action, acquire vigour and tense-
ness, and from soft become hard, prominent, and
thickened : in the same manner the heart.

We are therefore authorized to conclude that the
heart, at the moment of its action, is at once con-
stricted on all sides, rendered thicker in. its parietes and
smaller in its ventricles, and so made apt to project or
expel_its charge of blood. This, indeed, is made
sufficiently manifest by the fourth observation preceding,
in which we have seen that the heart, by squeezing out
the blood it contains becomes paler, and then when it
sinks into repose and the ventricle is filled anew with
blood, that the deeper crimson colour returns. But no
one need remain in doubt of the fact, for if the ventricle
be pierced the blood will be seen to be forcibly pro-
jected outwards upon each motion or pulsation when
the heart is tense.

These things, therefore, happen together or at the
same instant : the tension of the heart, the pulse of its

26 Motion of the

apex, which is felt externally by its striking against the
chest, the thickening of its parietes, and the forcible
expulsion of the blood it contains by the constriction of
its ventricles.

Hence the very opposite of the opinions commonly
received, appears to be true ; inasmuch as it is generally
believed that when the heart strikes the breast and the
pulse is felt without, the heart is dilated in its ventricles
and is filled with blood ; but the contrary of this is the
fact, arTd"fhe heart, when it contracts [and the shock is
given], is emptied. Whence the motion which is
generally regarded as the diastole of the heart, is in
truth its systole. And in like manner the intrinsic
motion of the heart is not the diastole but the systole ;
neither is it in the diastole that the heart grows firm
and tense, but in the systole, for then only, when tense,
is it moved and made vigorous.

Neither is it by any means to be allowed that the
heart only moves in the line of its straight fibres,
although the great Vesalius, giving this notion counten-
ance, quotes a bundle of osiers bound into a pyramidal
heap in illustration; meaning, that as the apex is ap-
proached to the base, so are the sides made to bulge
out in the fashion of arches, the cavities to dilate, the
ventricles to acquire the form of a cupping-glass and so
to suck in the blood. But the true effect of every one
of its fibres is to constringe the hear fat fKe~"5irme time
that they render it tense ; and this rather with the effect
of thickening and amplifying the walls and substance of
the organ than enlarging its ventricles. And, again, as
the fibres run from the apex to the base, and draw the
apex towards the base, they do not tend to make the
walls of the heart bulge out in circles, but rather
the contrary ; inasmuch as every fibre that is circularly
disposed, tends to become straight when it contracts ;
and is distended laterally and thickened, as in the case
of muscular fibres in general, when they contract, that is,
when they are shortened longitudinally, as we see them

Heart and Blood 27

in the bellies of the muscles of the bod) at large. To

all this, let it be added, that not only are the ventricles
iraeted in virtue of the direction and condensation
of their walls, but farther, that those fibres, or hands,
Btyled nerves by Aristotle, which are so CUOUS in

the ventricles of the larger animals, and contain all the
straight fibres, (the parietes of the heart containing only
circular ones,) when they contract simultaneously, by
an admirable adjustment all the internal surfaces are
drawn together, as if with cords, and so is the charge of
blood expelled with force.

Neither is it true, as vulgarly believed, that the heart
by any dilatation or motion of its own has the power of
drawing the blood into the ventricles; for when it acts
and becomes tense, the blood is expelled ; when it
relaxes and sinks together it receives the blood in the
manner and wise which will by and by be explained.

CHAPTER III

OF THE MOTIONS OF ARTERIES, AS SEEN IN THE
DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS

In connection with the motions of the heart these
things are further to be observed having reference to
the motions and pulses of the arteries :

i. At the moment the heart contracts, and when the
breast is struck, when in short the organ is in its state
of systole, the arteries are dilated, yield a pulse, and
are in the state of diastole. In like manner, when the
right ventricle contracts and propels its charge of blood,
the arterial vein [the pulmonary artery] is distended at
the same time with the other arteries of the body.

2. When the left ventricle ceases to act, to contract,
to pulsate, the pulse in the arteries also ceases ; further,
when this ventricle contracts languidly, the pulse in the
arteries is scarcely perceptible. In like manner, the
pulse in the right ventricle failing, the pulse in the vena
arteriosa [pulmonary artery] ceases also.

3. Further, when an artery is divided or punctured,
the blood is seen to be forcibly propelled from the
wound at the moment the left ventricle contracts ; and,
again, when the pulmonary artery is wounded, the blood
will be seen spouting forth with violence at the instant
when the right ventricle contracts.

So also in fishes, if the vessel which leads from the
heart to the gills be divided, at the moment when
the heart becomes tense and contracted, at the same
moment does the blood flow with force from the
divided vessel.

28

Motion of the Heart and Blood 29

In the same way, finally, when we see the blood in
arteriotomy projected now to a greater, now to a less

distance, and that the greater jet corresponds to the
diastole of the artery and to the time when the heart
contracts and strikes the ribs, and is in its state of
systole, we understand that the blood is expelled by
the same movement.

From these facts it is manifest, in opposition to
commonly received opinions, that the diastole of the
arteries corresponds with the time of the heart's systole ;
and that the arteries are filled and distended by the
blood forced into them by the contraction of the
ventricles j the arteries, therefore, are distended, be-
cause they are filled like sacs or bladders, and are not
filled because they expand like bellows. It is in virtue
of one and the same cause, therefore, that all the
arteries of the body pulsate, viz. the contraction of the
left ventricle ; in the same way as the pulmonary artery
pulsates by the contraction of the right ventricle.

Finally, that the pulses of the arteries are due to
the impulses of the blood from the left ventricle,
may be illustrated by blowing into a glove, when the
whole of the fingers will be found to become distended
at one and the same time, and in their tension to
bear some resemblance to the pulse. For in the
ratio of the tension is the pulse of the heart, fuller,
stronger, more frequent as that acts more vigorously,
still preserving the rhythm and volume and order of
the heart's contractions. Nor is it to be expected that
because of the_ motion of the b loods-tile, time at wh ich
the conira ctinn nf the hr^r t ra kes phrp, nnri th at at
which the pulse_in_an artery (especially a distant one)
is felt, shall be othenme-tha»-s4mulu«eous : it is here
the same as in- blowi ng- up ,1 g love n r b lfl(ld pr ; f nr in a
pl enum (as in a drum, a long piece of timber, &c.) the
stroke and the matknuQecur at both extremities at the
same time. Aristotle, 1 too, has said, " the blood of all

1 De Animal, iii, cap. 9.

30 Motion of the Heart and Blood

animals palpitates within their veins, (meaning the
arteries,) and by the pulse is sent everywhere simul-
taneously." And further, 1 " thus^diL_ajlthe veins
pulsate together and by successive strokes, because
they all depend upon the heart ; and, as it is always in
motion, so are they likewise always moving together,
but by successive movements." It is well to observe
with Galen, in this place, that the old philosophers
called the arteries veins.

I happened upon one occasion to have a particular
case under my care, which plainly satisfied me of this
truth : A certain person was affected with a large
pulsating tumour on the right side of the neck, called
an aneurism, just at that part where the artery descends
into the axilla, produced by an erosion of the artery
itself, and daily increasing in size; this tumour was
visibly distended as it received the charge of blood
brought to it by the artery, with each stroke of the
heart : the connexion of parts was obvious when the
body of the patient came to be opened after his death.
The pulse in the corresponding arm was small, in con-
sequence of the greater portion of the blood being
diverted into the tumour and so intercepted.

Whence it appears that wherever the motion of the
blood through the arteries is impeded, whether it be by
compression or infarction, or interception, there do the
remote divisions of the arteries beat less forcibly, seeing
that the pulse of the arteries is nothing more than the
impulse or shock of the blood in these vessels.

' De Respirat. cap. 20.

CHAPTER IV

OF THE MOTION OF THE HEART AND ITS AURICLES,
AS SEEN IN THE BODIES OF LIVING ANIMALS

Besides the motions already spoken of, we have still
to consider those that appertain to the auricles.

Casper Bauhin and John Riolan, 1 most learned men
and skilful anatomists, inform us from their observations,
that if we carefully watch the movements of the heart
in the vivisection of an animal, we shall perceive four
motions distinct in time and in place, two of which are
proper to the auricles, two to the ventricles. With all
deference to such authority I say, that there are four
motions distinct in point of place, but not of time ; for
the two auricles move together, and so also do the two
ventricles, in such wise that though the places be four,
the times are only two. And this occurs in the fol-
lowing manner :

There are, as it were, two motions going on together :
one of the auricles, another of the ventricles ; these by
no means taking place simultaneously, but the motion
of theauricles preced ing, that of the heaftSts ttlf fol-
lowing jjfoe motion ap pearing to begin from the auricles
and tn extend to th ventricles. When all things are be-
coming lan_;;;iJ, and' the heart is dying, as also in fishes
and the colder blooded animals, there is a short pause be-
tween these two motions, so that the heart aroused, as it
were, appears to respond to the motion, now more quickly,
now more tardily ; and at length, and when near to

> Bauhin, lib. ii, cap. 21. Riolan, lib. viii, cap. t.
31

32 Motion of the

death, it ceases to respond by its proper motion, but
seems, as it were, to nod the head, and is so obscurely
moved that it appears rather to give signs of motion to
the pulsating auricle, than actually to move. The heart,
therefore, ceases to pulsate sooner than the auricles,
so that the auricles have been said to outlive it, the
left ventricle ceasing to pulsate first of all ; then its
auricle, next the right ventricle ; and, finally, all the
other parts being at rest and dead, as Galen long since
observed, the right auricle still continues to beat ; life,
therefore, appears to linger longest in the right auricle.
Whilst the heart is gradually dying, it is sometimes
seen to reply, after two or three contractions of the
auricles, roused as it were to action, and making a
single pulsation, slowly, unwillingly, and with an effort.
But this especially is to be noted, that after the
heart has ceased to beat, the auricles however still
contracting, a finger placed upon the ventricles per-
ceives the several pulsations of the auricles, precisely
in the same way and for the same reason, as we have
said, that the pulses of the ventricles are felt in the
arteries, to wit, the distension produced by the jet of
blood. And if at this time, the auricles alone pulsating,
the point of the heart be cut off with a pair of scissors,
you will perceive the blood flowing out" upon each
contraction of the auricles. Whence it is manifest
how the blood enters the ventricles, not by any attrac-
tion or dilatation of the heart, but thrown into them by
/ the pulses of the auricles.

And here I would observe, that whenever I speak
of pulsations as occurring in the auricles or ventricles,
I mean contractions : first the auricles contract, and
then and subsequently the heart itself contracts. When
the auricles contract they are seen to become whiter,
especially where they contain but little blood ; but
they are filled as magazines or reservoirs of the blood,
which is tending spontaneously and, by the motion
of the veins, under pressure towards the centre; the

Heart and Rlood 33

whiteness indicated is most conspicuous towards the
extremities or edges of the auricles at the time o f their
contractions.

In fishes and frogs, and other animals which ha%-e
hearts with but a single ventricle, and for an auricle
have a kind of bladder much distended with blood, at
the base of the organ, you may very plainly perceive
this bladder contracting first, and the contraction of
the heart or ventricle following afterwards.

But I think it riirht to describe what I have observed
of an opposite character : the heart of an eel, of several
fishes, and even of some [of the higher] animals taken
out of the body, beats without auricles ; nay, if it be
cut in pieces the several parts may still be seen
contracting and relaxing ; so that in these creatures the
. of the heart may be seen pulsating, palpitating,
after the cessation of all motion in the auricle. But is
not this perchance peculiar to animals more tenacious
of life, whose radical moisture is more glutinous, or
fat and sluggish, and less readily soluble? The same
faculty indeed appears in the flesh of eels, generally,
which even when skinned and embowelled, and cut into
pieces, are still seen to move.

Experimenting with a pigeon upon one occasion,
after the heart had wholly ceased to pulsate, and the
auricles too had become motionless, 1 kept my finger
wetted with saliva and warm for a short time upon the
heart, and observed, that under the influence of this
fomentation it recovered new strength and life, so that
both ventricles and auricles pulsated, contracting and
relaxing alternately, recalled as it were from death to
life.

JJesides this, however, I have occasionally observed,
after the heart and even its right auricle had ceased
pulsating, — when it was in articulo mortis in short, —
that an obscure motion, an undulation or palpitation,
remained in the blood itself, which was contained in
the right auricle, this being apparent so long as it was
e 2(5z

34 Motion of the

imbued with heat and spirit. And indeed a circum-
stance of the same kind is extremely manifest in the
course of the generation of animals, as may be seen in
the course of the first seven days of the incubation
of the chick : A drop of blood makes its appearance
which palpitates, as Aristotle had already observed ;
from this, when the growth is further advanced and
the chick is fashioned, the auricles of the heart are
formed, which pulsating henceforth give constant signs
of life. When at length, and after the lapse of a few
days, the outline of the body begins to be distinguished,
then is the ventricular part of the heart also produced ;
but it continues for a time white and apparently blood-
less, like the rest of the animal ; neither does it pulsate
or give signs of motion. I have seen a similar condition
of the heart in the human foetus about the beginning
of the third month, the heart being then whitish and
bloodless, although its auricles contained a considerable
quantity of purple blood. In the same way in the egg,
when the chick was formed and had increased in size,
the heart too increased and acquired ventricles, which
then began to receive and to transmit blood.

And this leads me to remark, that he who inquires
very particularly into this matter will not conclude that
the heart, as a whole, is the primum vivens, ultimum
moriens — the first part to live, the last to die, but
rather its auricles, or the part which corresponds to the
auricles in serpents, fishes, &c, which both lives before
the heart 1 and dies after it.

Nay, has, not the blood itself or spirit an obscure
palpitation inherent in it, which it has even appeared
to me to retain after death ? and it seems very ques-
tionable whether or not we are to say that life begins
with the palpitation or beating of the heart. The
seminal fluid of all animals — the prolific spirit, as
Aristotle observed, leaves their body with a bound

1 [The reader will observe that Harvey, when he speaks of the heart,
always means the ventricles or ventricular portion of the organ.]

Heart and Blood 33

and like a living thing ; and nature in death, as
• (tie 1 further remarks, retracing her steps, reverts
to whence she had set out, returns at the end of her
course to the goal whence she had started ; and as
animal generation proceeds from that which is not
animal, entity from non-entity, so, by a retrograde
course, entity, by corruption, is resolved into non-entity ;
mce that in animals, which was last created, fails
first : and that which was first, fails last.

I have also observed, that alm ost all. animals have
trujvjjjieart, not the Li;. .tares only, ancTthose

that have red blo od, but the smaller, and [seemingly]
5 also, such as slugs, snails, scallops,
shrimps, crabs, crayfish, and many others ; nay, even
in wasps, hornets, and flies, I have, with the aid of a
j ni fying glas s^juad at the upper part of what is called
the tailTboth seen the heart pulsating myself, and shown
it to many others.

But in the exsanguine tribes iheLheart pulsates slug-
glishly and delibe r ately, contracting slowly as in animals
that are moribund, a fact that may readily be seen in
th e sn ail, whose heart will be found at the bottom of
that orifice in the right side of the body which is seen
to be opened and shut in the course of respiration, and
whence saliva is discharged, the incision being made
in the upper aspect of the body, near the part which
corresponds to the liver.

This, however, is to be observed : that in winter and
the colder season, exsanguine animals, such as the snail,
show no pulsations ; they seem rather to live after the
manner of vegetables, or of those other productions
which are therefore designated plant-animals.

It is also to be noted that aU animals which have a
heart , ha ve also auric les, or something analogous to
auricles ; and further, that wherever the heart has a
double ventricle there are always two auricles present,
but not otherwise. If you turn to the production of

' De Motu Animal, cap. 8.

36 Motion of the Heart and Blood

the chick in ovo, however, you will find at first no more
than a vesicle or auricle, or pulsating drop of blood ; it
is only by and by, when the development has made
some progress, that the heart is fashioned : even so in
certain animals not destined to attain to the highest
perfection in their organization, such as bees, wasps,
snails, shrimps, crayfish, &c, we only find a certain
pulsating vesicle, like a sort of red or white palpitating
point, as the beginning or principle of their life.

We have a small shrimp in these countries, which
is taken in the Thames and in the sea, the whole of
whose body is transparent ; this creature, placed in a
little water, has frequently afforded myself and particular
friends an opportunity of observing the motions of the
heart with the greatest distinctness, the external parts
of the body presenting no obstacle to our view, but
the heart being perceived as though it had been seen
through a window.

1 have also observed the first rudiments of the chick
in the course of the fourth or fifth day of the incubation,
in the guise of a little cloud, the shell having been
removed and the egg immersed in clear tepid water.
In the midst of the cloudlet in question there was a
bloody point so small that it disappeared during the
contraction and escaped the sight, but in the relaxation
it reappeared again, red and like the point of a pin ; so
that betwixt the visible and invisible, betwixt being and
not being, as it were, it gave by its pulses a kind of
representation of the commencement of life. 1

' [At the period Harvey indicates, a rudimentary auricle and ventricle
exist, but are to transparent that unless with certain precautions their
panetes cannot be seen. The filling and emptying of them, therefore,
give the appearance of a speck of blood alternately appearing and

disappeaiing.]

CHAPTER V

OF THE MOTION, ACTION, AND OFFICE OF THE HEART

From these and other observations of the like kind,
I am persuaded it will be found that the motion of
the heart is as follows :

First of all, the auricle contracts, and in the course
of its contraction throws the blood, (which it contains
in ample quantity as the head of the veins, the store-
house, and cistern of the blood,) into the ventricle,
which, being filled, the heart raises itself straightway,
makes all its fibres tense, contracts the ventricles, and
performs a beat, by which beat it immediately sends
the blood supplied to it by the auricle into the arteries ;
the right ventricle sending its charge into the lungs
by the vessel which is called vena arteriosa, but which,
in structure and function, and all things else, is an
artery; the left ventricle sending its charge into the
aorta, and through this by the arteries to the body
at large.

These two motions, one of the ventricles, another
of the auricles, take place consecutively, but in such
a manner that there is a kind of harmony or rhythm
preserved between them, the two concurring in such
wise that but one motion is apparent, especially in the
warmer blooded animals, in which the movements in
question are rapid. Nor is this for any other reason
than it is in a piece of machinery, in which, though
one wheel gives motion to another, yet all the wheels
seem to move simultaneously ; or in that mechanical
contrivance which is adapted to firearms, where the

37

38

Motion of the

trigger being touched, down comes the flint, strikes
against the steel, elicits a spark, which falling among
the powder, it is ignited, upon which the flame extends,
enters the barrel, causes the explosion, propels the ball,
and the mark is attained — all of which incidents, by
reason of the celerity with which they happen, seem
to take place in the twinkling of an eye. So also in
deglutition : by the elevation of the root of the tongue,
and the compression of the mouth, the food or drink
is pushed into the fauces, the larynx is closed by its
own muscles, and the epiglottis, whilst the pharynx,
raised and opened by its muscles no otherwise than
is a sac that is to be filled, is lifted up, and its mouth
dilated ; upon which, the mouthful being received, it
is forced downwards by the transverse muscles, and
then carried farther by the longitudinal ones. Yet are
all these motions, though executed by different and
distinct organs, performed harmoniously, and in such
order, that they seem to constitute but a single motion
and act, which we call deglutition.

Even so does it come to pass with the motions and
action of the heart, which constitute a kind of deglu-
tition, a transfusion of the blood from the veins to the
arteries. And if any one, bearing these things in mind,
will carefully watch the motions of the heart in the
body of a living animal, he will perceive not only all
the particulars I have mentioned, viz. the heart be-
coming erect, and making one continuous motion with
its auricles ; but farther, a certain obscure undulation
and lateral inclination in the direction of the axis of
the right ventricle, [the organ] twisting itself slightly
in performing its work. And indeed every one may
see, when a horse drinks, that the water is drawn in
and transmitted to the stomach at each movement of
the throat, the motion being accompanied with a
sound, and yielding a pulse both to the ear and the
touch ; in the same way it is with each motion of
the heart, when there is the delivery of a quantity

Heart and Blood 39

Of blood from the veins to the arteries, that a pulse
takes place, and can he heard within the chest.

The motion of the heart, then, is entirely of this
description, and the one action of the heart is the
transmission of the blood and its distribution, by
means of the arteries, to the very extremities of the
body ; so that the pulse which we feel in the arteries
is nothing more than the impulse of the blood derived
from the heart.

Whether or not the heart, besides propelling the
blood, giving it motion locally, and distributing it to
the body, adds anything else to it, — heat, spirit, per-
fection, — must be inquired into by and by, and decided
upon other grounds. So much may suffice at this
time, when it is shown that by the action of the heart
the blood is transfused through the ventricles from the
veins to the arteries, and distributed by them to all
parts of the body.

So much, indeed, is admitted by all [physiologists],
both from the structure of the heart and the arrange-
ment and action of its valves. But still they are like
persons purblind or groping about in the dark ; and
then they give utterence to diverse, contradictory, and
incoherent sentiments, delivering many things upon
conjecture, as we have already had occasion to remark.

The grand cause of hesitation and error in this
subject appears to me to have been the intimate con-
nection betweenjt he heart and the lungs. When men
saw both_J±Le^£iia-a#eriosa [or pulmonary artery] and
the arter ire ve nosse [or pulmonary veins] losing them-
selves in the lungs, of course it beca me a p uzzle to
them TTfF"know how or by wMt means th e right
ventricle should distribute the blood to the body, or
the left draw it from the venae cava;. This fact is
born witness to by Galen, whose words, when writing
against Erasistratus in regard to the origin and use of the
veins and the coction of the blood, are the following : l

1 De Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis, vi.

^o Motion of the

" You will reply," he says, " that the effect is so ; that
the blood is prepared in the liver, and is thence
transferred to the heart to receive its proper form and
last perfection; a statement which does not appear
devoid of reason ; for no great and perfect work is
ever accomplished at a single effort, or receives its final
polish from one instrument. But if this be actually so,
then show us another vessel which draws the absolutely
perfect blood from the heart, and distributes it as the
arteries do the spirits over the whole body." Here
then is a reasonable opinion not allowed, because,
forsooth, besides not seeing the true means of transit,
he could not discover the vessel which should transmit
the blood from the heart to the body at large !

But had any one been there in behalf of Erasistratus,
and of that opinion which we now espouse, and which
Galen himself acknowledges in other respects consonant
with reason, to have pointed to the aorta as the vessel
which distributes the blood from the heart to the rest
of the body, I wonder what would have been the
answer of that most ingenious and learned man ? Had
he said that the artery transmits spirits and not blood,
he would indeed sufficiently have answered Erasistratus,
who imagined that the arteries contained nothing but
spirits ; but then he would have contradicted himself,
and given a foul denial to that for which he had keenly
contended in his writings against this very Erasistratus,
to wit, that blood in substance is contained in the
arteries, and not spirits ; a fact which he demonstrated
not only by many powerful arguments, but by ex-
periments.

But if the divine Galen will here allow, as in other
places he does, " that all the arteries of the body arise
from the great artery, and that this takes its origin
from the heart ; that all these vessels naturally contain
and carry blood ; that the three semilunar valves
situated at the orifice of the aorta prevent the return
of the blood into the heart, and that nature never

Heart and Blood 41

connected them with this, the most noble viscus of the
body, unless for some most important end;" if, I say, tiiis
father of physic admits all these things, — and I quote
his own words, — I do not see how he can deny that
the great artery is the very vessel to carry the blood,
when it has attained its highest term of perfection,
from the heait for distribution to all parts of the body.
Or would he perchance still hesitate, like all who have
come after him, even to the present hour, because he
did not perceive the route by which the blood was
transferred from the veins to the arteries, in consequence,
as I have already s'aTd, of the intimate connexion be-
tween the heart and the lungs ? And that this difficulty
puzzled anatomists not a little, when in their dissections
they found the pulmonary artery and left ventricle full
of thick, black, and clotted blood, plainly appears,
when they felt themselves compelled to affirm that the
blood made its way from the right to the left ventricle
by sweating through the septum of the heart. But
this I fancy I have already refuted. A new pathway
for the blood must therefore .be prepared and thrown
open, and being once exposed, no further difficulty
will, I believe, be experienced by any one in admitting
what I have already proposed in regard to the pulse
of the heart and arteries, viz. the passage of the blood
from the veins to the arteries, and its distribution to
the whole of the body by means of these vessels.

CHAPTER VI

OF THE COURSE BY WHICH THE BLOOD IS CARRIED FROM
THE VENA CAVA INTO THE ARTERIES, OR FROM THE
RIGHT INTO THE LEFT VENTRICLE OF THE HEART

Since the intimate connexion of the heart with the
lungs, which is apparent in the human subject, has
been the probable cause of the errors that have been
committed on this point, they plainly do amiss who,
pretending to speak of the parts of animals generally,
as anatomists for the most part do, confine their re-
searches to the human body alone, and that when it
is dead. They obviously act no otherwise than he
who, having studied the forms of a single common-
wealth, should set about the composition of a general
system of polity ; or who, having taken cognizance of
the nature of a single field, should imagine that he
had mastered the science of agriculture ; or who, upon
the ground of one particular proposition, should pro-
ceed to draw general conclusions.

Had anatomists only been as conversant with the
dissection of the lower animals as they are with that of
the human body, the matters that have hitherto kept
them in a perplexity of doubt would, in my opinion,
have met them freed from every kind of difficulty.

And, first, in fishes, in which the heart consists of
but a single ventricle, they having no lungs, the thing
is sufficiently manifest. Here the sac, which is situ-
ated at the base of the heart, and is the part analogous
to the auricle in man, plainly throws the blood into the
heart, and the heart, in its turn, conspicuously transmits

42

Motion of the Heart and Blood 43

it by a pipe Of artery, ur vessel analogous to an artery ;
these are facts winch are confirmed by simple ocular
inspection, as well as by a division of the vessel, when
!>lood is seen to be projected by each pulsation of
the heart.

The same thing is also not difficult of demonstration
in those animals that have either no more, or, as it
were, no more than a single ventricle to the heart, such
as toads, frogs, serpents, and lizards, which, althoi
they have lungs in a certain senSeTTls they have a voice,
(and I have many observations by me on the admirable
structure of the lungs of these animals, and matters
appertaining, which, however, I cannot introduce in
this place,) still their anatomy plainly shows that the
':■; i l- transferred in them from the veins to the
arteries in the same manner as in higher animals,
vi . b) the action of the heart: the way, in fact, is
nt, open, manifest ; there is no difficulty, no room
for hesitating about it ; for in them the matter stands
precisely as it would in man, were the septum of his
heart perforated or removed, or one ventricle made out
of two ; and this being the case, I imagine that no one
will doubt as to the way by which the blood may pass
from the veins into the arteries.

But as there are actually more animals which have
no lungs than there are which be furnished with them,
and in like manner a greater number which have only-
one ventricle than there are which have two, it is open to
us to conclude, judging from the mass or multitude of
living creatures, that for the major part, and generally,
there is an open way by which the blood is transmitted
from the veins through the sinuses or cavities of the
heart into the arteries.

I have, however, cogitating with myself, seen further,
that the same thing obtained most obviously in the
embryos of those animals that have lungs ; for in the
fcetus the four vessels belonging to the heart, viz.
the vena cava, the vena arteriosa or pulmonary artery,

44 Motion of the

the arteria venalis or pulmonary vein, and the arteria
magna or aorta, are all connected otherwise than in the
adult ; a fact sufficiently known to every anatomist.
The first contact and union of the vena cava with the
arteria venosa or pulmonary veins, which occurs before
the cava opens properly into the right ventricle of the
heart, or gives off the coronary vein, a little above its
escape from the liver, is by a lateral anastomosis ; this
is an ample foramen, of an oval form, communicating
between the cava and the arteria venosa, or pulmonary
vein, so that the blood is free to flow in the greatest
abundance by that foramen from the vena cava into the
arteria venosa or pulmonary vein, and left auricle, and
from thence into the left ventricle ; and farther, in this
foramen ovale, from that part which regards the arteria
venosa, or pulmonary vein, there is a thin tough
membrane, larger than the opening, extended like an
operculum or cover ; this membrane in the adult
blocking up the foramen, and adhering on all sides,
finally closes it up, and almost obliterates every trace
of it. This membrane, however, is so contrived in the
foetus, that falling loosely upon itself, it permits a ready
access to the lungs and heart, yielding a passage to the
blood which is streaming from the cava, and hindering
the tide at the same time from flowing back into that
vein. All things, in short, permit us to believe that in
the embryo the blood must constantly pass by this
foramen from the vena cava into the arteria venosa, or
pulmonary vein, and from thence into the left auricle
of the heart ; and having once entered there, it can
never regurgitate.

Another union is that by the vena arteriosa, or
pulmonary artery, and is effected when that vessel
divides into two branches after its escape from the
right ventricle of the heart. It is as if to the two
trunks already mentioned a third was superadded, a
kind of arterial canal, carried obliquely from the vena
arteriosa, or pulmonary artery, to perforate and termi-

I [eart and Blood 45

nate in the arteria magna or aorta. In the embryo,

consequently, there arc, as it were, two aortas, or two
roots of the arteria magna, springing from the heart.
This canalis arteriosus shrinks gradually after birth,
and is at length and finally almost entirely withered,
and removed, like the umbilical vessels.

The canalis arteriosus contains no membrane or
valve to direct or impede the flow of the blood in this
or in that direction : for at the root of the vena
arteriosa, or pulmonary artery, of which the canalis
arteriosus is the continuation in the foetus, there are
three sigmoid or semilunar valves, which open from
within outwards, and oppose no obstacle to the blood
flowing in this direction or from the right ventricle into
the pulmonary artery and aorta ; but they prevent all
regurgitation from the aorta or pulmonic vessels back
upon the right ventricle ; closing with perfect accuracy,
they oppose an effectual obstacle to everything of the
kind in the embryo. So that there is also reason to
believe that when the heart contracts, the blood is
regularly propelled by the canal or passage indicated
from the right ventricle into the aorta.

What is commonly said in regard to these two great
communications, to wit,. that they exist for the nutrition
of the lungs, is both improbable and inconsistent ;
seeing that in the adult they are closed up, abolished,
and consolidated, although the lungs, by reason of their
heat and motion, must then be presumed to require
a larger supply of nourishment. The same may be said
in regard to the assertion that the heart in the embryo
does not pulsate^ that it neither acts nor moves, so
that nature was forced to make these communications
for the nutrition of the lungs. This is plainly false;
for simple inspection of the inmhnr^rl pw anH of
embryos just taken out of the uieras, suows that the
o« flrt mov e o -precls'ely jn them as in adults, and that
nature feels no such necessity. I have myself re-
peatedly seen these motions, and Aristotle is likewise

4 6

Motion of the

witness of their reality. "The pulse," he observes,
" inheres in the very constitution of the heart, and
appears from the beginning, as is learned both from
the dissection of living animals, and the formation of the
chick in the egg." 1 But we further observe, that
the passages in question are not only pervious up to
the period of birth in man, as well as in other animals,
as anatomists in general have described them, but for
several months subsequently, in some indeed for several
years, not to say for the whole course of life ; as, for
example, in the goose, snipe, and various birds, and
many of the smaller animals. And this circumstance
it was, perhaps, that imposed upon Botallus, who
thought he had discovered a new passage for the
blood from the vena cava into the left ventricle of
the heart ; and I own that when I met with the same
arrangement in one of the larger members of the
mouse family, in the adult state, I was myself at first
led to something of a like conclusion.

From this it will be understood that in the human
embryo, and in the embryos of animals in which the
communications are not closed, the same thing happens,
namely, that the heart by its motion propels the blood
by obvious and open passages from the vena cava into
the aorta through the cavities of both the ventricles ;
the right one receiving the blood from the auricle, and
propelling it by the vena arteriosa, or pulmonary artery,
and its continuation, named the ductus arteriosus, into
the aorta ; the left, in like manner, charged by the
contraction of its auricle, which has received its supply
through the foramen ovale from the vena cava, con-
tracting, and projecting the blood through the root of
the aorta into the trunk of that vessel.

In embryos, consequently, whilst the lungs are yet in
a state of inaction, performing no function, subject to
no motion any more than if they had not been present,
nature uses the two ventricles of the heart as if they

1 Lib. de Spiritu, cap. v.

Heart and Blood 47

formed but one, for the transmission o( the blood.
The condition of the embryo.-, of those animals which
have lungs, whilst these organs are yet in abeyance and
not employed, is the same as that of those animals
which have no lungs.

- 1 clearly, theref ire, does it appear in the case of
the foetus, viz. that the heart by its action transfers the
blood from the vena cava into the aorta, and that by a
route as obvious and open, as if in the adult the two
ventricles were made to communicate by the removal
of their septum. Since, then, we find that in the
greater number of animals, in all, indeed, at a certain
period of their existence, the channels for the trans-
mission of the blood through the heart are so con-
spicuous, we have still to inquire wherefore in some
creatures — those, namely, that have warm blood, and
that have attained to the adult age, man among the
number — we should not conclude that the same thing
is accomplished through the substance of the lungs,
which in the embryo, and at a time when the function
of these organs is in abeyance, nature effects by the
direct passages described, and which, indeed, she
seems compelled to adopt through want of a passage
by the lun^s ; or wherefore it should be better (for
nature always does that which is best) that she should
close up the various open routes which she had for-
merly made use of in the embryo and foetus, and still
uses in all other animals ; not only opening up no new-
apparent channels for the passage of the blood, there-
fore, but even entirely shutting up those which formerly-
existed.

And now the discussion is brought to this point,
that they who inquire into the ways by which the
blood reaches the left ventricle of the heart and pul-
monary veins from the vena cava, will pursue the
wisest course if they seek by dissection to discover the
causes why in the larger and more perfect animals of
mature age, nature has rather chosen to make the

48 Motion of the Heart and Blood

blood percolate the parenchyma of the lungs, than as
in other instances chosen a direct and obvious course
— for I assume that no other path or mode of transit
can be entertained. It must be either because the
larger and more perfect animals are warmer, and when
adult their heat greater — ignited, as I might say, and
requiring to be damped or mitigated ; therefore it may
be that the blood is sent through the lungs, that it may
be tempered by the air that is inspired, and prevented
from boiling up, and so becoming extinguished, or
something else of the sort. But to determine these
matters, and explain them satisfactorily, were to enter
on a speculation in regard to the office of the lungs and
the ends for which they exist; and upon such a subject,
as well as upon what pertains to eventilation, to the
necessity and use of the air, &c, as also to the variety
and diversity of organs that exist in the bodies of
animals in connexion with these matters, although I
have made a vast number of observations, still, lest
I should be held as wandering too wide of my present
purpose, which is the use and motion of the heart, and
be charged with speaking of things beside the question,
and rather complicating and quitting than illustrating it,
I shall leave such topics till I can more conveniently
set them forth in a treatise apart. And now, returning
to my immediate subject, I go on with what yet
remains for demonstration, viz. that in the more
perfect and warmer adult animals, and man, the blood
passes from the right ventricle of the heart by the vena
arteriosa, or pulmonary artery, into the lungs, and
thence by the arteriae venosse, or pulmonary veins, into
the left auricle, and thence into the left ventricle of the
heart. And, first, I shall show that this may be so,
and then I shall prove that it is so in fact.

CHAPTER VII

THE BLOOD PERCOLATES THE SUBSTANCE OF THE
LUNGS FROM THE RKIHT VENTRICLE OF THE HEART
INTO THE PULMONARY VEINS AND LEFT VENTRICLE

That this is possible, and that there is nothing to
prevent it from being so, appears when we reflect on
the way in which water percolating the earth produces
springs and rivulets, or when we speculate on the
means by which the sweat passes through the skin, •
or the urine through the parenchyma of the kidneys.
It is well known that persons who use the Spa waters,
or those of La Madonna, in the territories of Padua, or
others of an acidulous or vitriolated nature, or who
simply swallow drinks by the gallon, pass all off again
within an hour or two by urine. Such a quantity of
liquid must take some short time in the concoction :
it must pass through the. liver ; (it is allowed by all
that the juices of the food we consume pass twice
through this organ in the course of the day ;) it must
flow through the veins, through the parenchyma of the
kidneys, and through the ureters into the bladder.

To those, therefore, whom I hear denying that the
blood, aye the whole mass of the blood may pass
through the substance of the lungs, even as the
nutritive juices percolate the liver, asserting such a
proposition to be impossible, and by no means to be
entertained as credible, I reply, with the poet, that
they are of that race of men who, when they will,
assent full readily, and when they will not, by no
manner of means ; who, when their assent is wanted,
fear, and when it is not, fear not to give it.
F * 62 49

50 Motion of the

The parenchyma of the liver is extremely dense,
so is that of the kidney ; the lungs, again, are of a
much looser texture, and if compared with the kidneys
are absolutely spongy. In the liver there is no forcing,
no impelling power ; in the lungs the blood is forced
on by the pulse of the right ventricle, the necessary
effect of whose impulse is the distension of the vessels
and pores of the lungs. And then the lungs, in respira-
tion, are perpetually rising and falling ; motions, the
effect of which must needs be to open and shut the
pores and vessels, precisely as in the case of a sponge,
and of parts having a spongy structure, when they are
alternately compressed and again are suffered to expand.
The liver, on the contrary, remains at rest, and is never
seen to be dilated and constricted. Lastly, if no one
denies the possibility of the whole of the ingested
juices passing through the liver, in man, oxen, and the
larger animals generally, in order to reach the vena
cava, and for this reason, that if nourishment is to
go on, these juices must needs get into the veins, and
there is no other way but the one indicated, why should
not the same arguments be held of avail for the passage
of the blood in adults through the lungs ? Why not,
with Columbus, that skilful and learned anatomist,
maintain and believe the like, from the capacity and
structure of the pulmonary vessels; from the fact of
the pulmonary veins and ventricle corresponding with
them, being always found to c^ncain blood, which
must needs have come from the veins, and by no other
passage save through the lungs ? Columbus, and we
also, from what precedes, from dissections, and other
arguments, conceive the thing to be clear. But as
there are some who admit nothing unless upon
authority, let them learn that the truth I am contending
for can be confirmed from Galen's own words, namely,
that not only may the blood be transmitted from the
pulmonary artery into the pulmonary veins, then into
the left ventricle of the heart, and from thence into the

Heart and Blood 51

arteries_of_thebody, hut that this is effected by the
ce.: pulsation of the heart and the motion of

the hTnls in breathing.

There are, as every one knows, three sigmoid or
semilunar valves situated at the orifice of the pulmonary
artery, which effectually prevent the blood sent into the
vessel from returning into the cavity of the heart.
Now Galen, explaining the uses of these valves, and
the necessity for them, employs the following lan-
guage : l "There is everywhere a mutual anastomosis
and inosculation of the arteries with the veins, and
they severally transmit both blood and spirit, by certain
invisible and undoubtedly very narrow passages. Now
if the mouth of the vena arteriosa, or pulmonary artery,
had stood in like manner continually open, and nature
had found no contrivance for closing it when requisite,
and opening it again, it would have been impossible
that the blood could ever have passed by the invisible
and delicate mouths, during the contractions of the
thorax, into the arteries ; for all things are not alike
readily attracted or repelled ; but that which is light is
more readily drawn in, the instrument being dilated,
and forced out again when it is contracted, than that
whichjsjieavy ; and in like manner is anything drawn
more rapidly along an ample conduit, and again driven
forth, than it is through a narrow tube. But whenihe--
thorajc_js__cQrLtracted 3 the pulmonary veins, which are
in \KtT lungs, being driven inwardly, and powerfully
compressed on every side, immediately force out some
of the spirit they contain, and at the same time assume
a certain portion of blood by those subtile mouths ;
a thing that could never come to pass were the blood
at liberty to flow back into the heart through the great
orifice of the pulmonary artery. But its return through
this great opening being prevented, when it is com-
pressed on every side, a certain portion of it distils into
the pulmonary veins by the minute orifices mentioned. V-

1 De Usu partium, lib. vi. cap. 10. /\K^~~ ~~^^ /.

[fflfLI
if.

52 Motion of the

And shortly afterwards, in the very next chapter, he
says : " The more the thorax contracts, the more it
strives to force out the blood, the more exactly do
these membranes (viz. the sigmoid valves) close up the
mouth of the vessel, and suffer nothing to regurgitate."
The same fact he has also alluded to in a preceding
part of the tenth chapter : " Were there, no_ valves,
a three-fold inconvenience would result^ so that the
blood would then perform this lengthened course in
vain ; it would flow inwards during the diastoles of the
lungs, and fill all their arteries ; but in the systoles,
in the manner of the tide, it would ever and anon, like
the Euripus, flow backwards and forwards by the same
way, with a reciprocating motion, which would nowise
suit the blood. This, however, may seem a matter of
little moment ; but if it meantime appear that the
function of respiration suffer, then I think it would be
looked upon as no trifle, &c." And, again, and shortly
afterwards: "And then a third inconvenience, by no
means to be thought lightly of, would follow, were the
blood moved backwards during the expirations, had
not our Maker instituted those supplementary mem-
branes [the sigmoid valves]." Whence, in the eleventh
chapter, he concludes : " That they have all a common
use, (to wit, the valves,) and that it is to prevent
regurgitation or backward motion ; each, however,
having a proper function, the one set drawing matters
from the heart, and preventing their return, the other
drawing matters into the heart, and preventing their
escape from it. For nature never intended to distress
the heart with needless labour, neither to bring aught
into the organ which it had been better to have kept
away, nor to take from it again aught which it was
requisite should be brought. Since, then, there are
four orifices in all, two in either ventricle, one of these
induces, the other educes." And again he says :
"Farther, since there is one vessel, consisting of a
simple tunic, implanted in the heart, and another,

Heart and Blood 53

having a double tunic, extending from it, (Galen is here
speaking of the right side of the heart, hut I extend his
observations to the left side also,) a kind of reservoir
had to be provided, to which both belonging, the blood
should be drawn in by the one, and sent out by the
other."

This argument Galen adduces for the transit of the
blood by the right ventricle from the vena cava into
the lungs ; but we can use it with still greater propriety,
merely changing the terms, for the passage of the blood
from the veins through the heart into the arteries.
Frum Galen, however, that great man, that father of
physicians, it clearly appears that ^he blood passes
through the lungs from the pulmonary artery into the
minute branches of the pulmonary veins, urged to this
both by the pulses of the heart and by the motions of
the lungs and thorax; that the heart, moreover, is
incessantly receiving and expelling the blood by and
from its ventricles, as from a magazine or cistern, and
for this end is furnished with four sets of valves, two
serving for the induction and two for the eduction of
the blood, lest, like the Euripus, it should be incom-
modiously sent hither and thither, or flow back into
the cavity which it should have quitted, or quit the
part where its presence was required, and so the heart
be oppressed with labour in vain, and the office of the
lungs be interfered with. 1 Finally, J)ur position that
the blood is continually passing from the right to the
left ventricle, frum the vena cava into the aorta, through
the porous structure of the lungs, plainly appears from
this, that since the blood is incessantly sent from the
right ventricle into the lungs by the pulmonary artery,
and in like manner is incessantly drawn from the lungs
into the left ventricle, as appears from what precedes
and the position of the valves, it cannot do otherwise

1 See the Commentary of the learned Hofmann upon the Sixth Book
of Galen, " De Usn partium," a work which I first saw after I had
written what precedes.

54 Motion of the Heart and Blood

than pass through continuously. And then, as the
blood is incessantly flowing into the right ventricle of
the heart, and is continually passed out from the left,
as appears in like manner, and as is obvious both to
sense and reason, it is impossible that the blood can
do otherwise than pass continually from the vena cava
into the aorta.

Dissection consequently shows distinctly what takes
place [in regard to the transit of the blood] in the
greater number of animals, and indeed in all, up to
the period of their [fcetal] maturity ; and that the same
thing occurs in adults is equally certain, both from
Galen's words, and what has already been said on the
subject, only that in the former the transit is effected
by open and obvious passages, in the latter by the
obscure porosities of the lungs and the minute inoscula-
tions of vessels. Whence it appears that, although one
ventricle of the heart, the left to wit, would suffice for
the distribution of the blood over the body, and its
eduction from the vena cava, as indeed is done in those
creatures that have no lungs, nature, nevertheless, when
she ordained that the same blood should also perco-
late the lungs, saw herself obliged to add another
ventricle, the right, the pulse of which should force the
blood from the vena cava through the lungs into the
cavity of the left ventricle. In this way, therefore, it
may be said that the right ventricle is made for the
sake of the lungs, and for the transmission of the blood
through them, not for their nutrition ; seeing it were
unreasonable to suppose that the lungs required any so
much more copious a supply of nutriment, and that of
so much purer and more spirituous a kind, as coming
immediately from the ventricle of the heart, than either
the brain with its peculiarly pure substance, or the eyes
with their lustrous and truly admirable structure, or the
flesh of the heart itself, which is more commodiously
nourished by the coronary artery.

CHAPTER VIII

OF THE QUANTITY OF BLOOD PASSING THROUGH THE
HEART FROM THE VEINS TO THE ARTERIES J AND
OF THE CIRCULAR MOTION OF THE BLOOD

Thus far I have spoken of the passage of the blood
from the veins into the arteries, and of the manner in
which it is transmitted and distributed by the action of
the heart; points to which some, moved either by the
authority of Galen or Columbus, or the reasonings of
others, will give in their adhesion. But what remains
to be said upon the quantity and source of the blood
which thus passes, is of so novel and unheard-of
character, that I not only fear injury to myself from the
envy of a few, but I tremble lest I have mankind at
large for my enemies, so much doth wont and custom,
that become as another nature, and doctrine once
sown and that hath struck deep root, and respect for
antiquity influence all men : Still the die is cast, and
my trust is in my love of truth, and the candour that
inheres in cultivated minds. And sooth to say, when
I surveyed my mass of evidence, whether derived from
vivisections, and my various reflections on them, or
from the ventricles of the heart and the vessels that
enter into and issue from them, the symmetry and size
of these conduits, — for nature doing nothing in vain,
would never have given them so large a relative size
without a purpose, — or from the arrangement and inti-
mate structure of the valves in particular, and of the
other parts of the heart in general, with many things
besides, I frequently and seriously bethought me, and

55

56

Motion of the

long revolved in my mind, what might be the quantity
of blood which was transmitted, in how short a time
its passage might be effected, and the like ; and not
finding it possible that this could be supplied by the
juices of the ingested aliment without the veins on
the one hand becoming drained, and the arteries on the
other getting ruptured through the excessive charge of
blood, unless the blood should somehow find its way
from the arteries into the veins, and so return to the
right side of the heart ; I began to think whether there
might not be a a motion, as it were, in a circle.
Now this I afterwards found to be true ; and I finally
saw that the blood, forced by the action of the left
ventricle into the arteries, was distributed to the body
at large, and its several parts, in the same manner as it
is sent through the lungs, impelled by the right ventricle
into the pulmonary artery, and that it then passed
through the veins and along the vena cava, and so
round to the left ventricle in the manner already in-
dicated. Which motion we may be allowed to call
circular, in the same way as Aristotle says that the air
and the rain emulate the circular motion of the superior
bodies ; for the moist earth, warmed by the sun, evapo-
rates ; the vapours drawn upwards are condensed, and
descending in the form of rain, moisten the earth
again ; and by this arrangement are generations of living
things produced ; and in like manner too are tempests
and meteors engendered by the circular motion, and by
the approach and recession of the sun.

And so, in all likelihood, does it come to pass in the
body, through the motion of the blood ; the various
parts are nourished, cherished, quickened by the warmer,
more perfect, vaporous, spirituous, and, as I may say,
alimentive blood ; which, on the contrary, in contact
with these parts becomes cooled, coagulated, and, so
to speak, effete ; whence it returns to its sovereign the
heart, as if to its source, or to the inmost home of
the body, there to recover its state of excellence or

Heart and Blood 57

perfection. I [ere it resumes its due fluidity and receives

an infusion of natural heat — powerful, fervid, a kind of
treasury of life, and is impregnated with spirits, and it
might be said with balsam ; and thence it is again dis-
persed ; and all this depends on the motion and action
of the heart.

The heart, consequently, is the beginning of life ; the
sun of the microcosm, even as the sun in his turn might
well lie designated the heart of the world; for it is the
heart by whose virtue and pulse the blood is moved,
perfected, made apt to nourish, and is preserved from
corruption and coagulation ; it is the household divinity
which, discharging its function, nourishes, cherishes,
quickens the whole body, and is indeed the foundation
of life, the source of all action. But of these things we
shall speak more opportunely when we come to specu-
late upon the final cause of this motion of the heart.

Hence, since the veins are the conduits and vessels
that transport the blood, they are of two kinds, the
cava and the aorta ; and this not by reason of there
beihg two sides of the body, as Aristotle has it, but
because of the difference of office ; nor yet, as is com-
monly said, in consequence of any diversity of structure,
for in many animals, as I have said, the vein does not
differ from the artery in the thickness of its tunics, but
solely in virtue of their several destinies and uses. A
vein and an artery, both styled vein by the ancients,
and that not undeservedly, as Galen has remarked,
because the one, the artery to wit, is the vessel which
carries the blood from the heart to the body at large,
the other or vein of the present day bringing it back
from the general system to the heart ; the former is the
conduit from, the latter the channel to, the heart; the
latter contains the cruder, effete blood, rendered unfit
for nutrition ; the former transmits the digested, perfect,
peculiarly nutritive fluid.

CHAPTER IX

THAT THERE IS A CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS
CONFIRMED FROM THE FIRST PROPOSITION

But lest any one should say that we give them words
only, and make mere specious assertions without any
foundation, and desire to innovate without sufficient
cause, three points present themselves for confirmation,
which being stated, I conceive that the truth I contend
for will follow necessarily, and appear as a thing obvious
to all. First, — the blood is incessantly transmitted by
the action of the heart from the vena cava to the
arteries in such quantity, that it cannot be supplied
from the ingesta, and in such wise that the whole mass
must very quickly pass through the organ ; Second, —
the blood under the influence of the arterial pulse enters
and is impelled in a continuous, equable, and incessant
stream through every part and member of the body, in
much larger quantity than were sufficient for nutrition,
or than the whole mass of fluids could supply ; Third, —
the veins in like manner return this blood incessantly
to the heart from all parts and members of the body.
These points proved, I conceive it will be manifest
that the blood circulates, revolves, propelled and then
returning, from the heart to the extremities, from the
extremities to the heart, and thus that it performs a
kind of circular motion.

Let us assume either arbitrarily or from experiment,
the quantity of blood which the left ventricle of the
heart will contain when distended to be, say two ounces,
three ounces, one ounce and a half — in the dead body

581

Motion of the Heart and Blood 59

I have found it to hold upwards of two ounces. Let
us assume further, how much less the heart will hold
in the contracted than in the dilated state ; and how
much blood it will project into the aorta upon each
contraction; — and all the world allows that with the
systole something is always projected, a necessary con-
sequence demonstrated in the third chapter, and obvious
from the structure of the valves ; and let us suppose as
approaching the truth that the fourth, or fifth, or sixth,
or even but the eighth part of its charge is thrown into
the artery at each contraction ; this would give either
half an ounce, or three drachms, or one drachm of
blood as propelled by the heart at each pulse into
the aorta ; which quantity, by reason of the valves at
the root of the vessel, can by no means return into the
ventricle. Now, in the course of half an hour, the heart
will have made more than one thousand beats, in some
as many as two, three, and even four thousand. Multi-
plying the number of drachms propelled by the number
of pulses, we shall have either one thousand half-ounces,
or one thousand times three drachms, or a like pro-
portional quantity of blood, according to the amount
which we assume as propelled with each stroke of the
heart, sent from this organ into the artery; a larger
quantity in every case than is contained in the whole
body ! In the same way, in the sheep^ox dog, say that
but a single scruple of blood passes with each stroke of
the heart, in one half-hour we should havex)ne thousand
scruples, or about three pounds and a half of blood
injected into the aorta ; but the body of neither animal
contains above four pounds of blood, a fact which I
have myself ascertained in the case of the sheep.

Upon this supposition, therefore, assumed merely as
a ground for reasoning, we see the whole mass of blood
passing through the heart, from the veins to the arteries,
and in like manner through the lungs.

But let it be said that this does not take place in half
an hour, but in an hour, or even in a day ; any way it

60 Motion of the

is still manifest that more blood passes through the
heart in consequence of its action, than can either be
supplied by the whole of the ingesta, or than can be
contained in the veins at the same moment.

Nor can it be allowed that the heart in contracting
sometimes propels and sometimes does not propel, or
at most propels but very little, a mere nothing, or an
imaginary something : all this, indeed, has already been
refuted; and is, besides, contrary both to sense and
reason. For if it be a necessary effect of the dilatation
of the heart that its ventricles become filled with
blood, it is equally so that, contracting, these cavities
should expel their contents ; and this not in any trifling
measure, seeing that neither are the conduits small,
nor the contractions few in number, but frequent, and
always in some certain proportion, whether it be a
third, or a sixth, or an eighth, to the total capacity of
the ventricles, so that a like proportion of blood must
be expelled, and a like proportion received with each
stroke of the heart, the capacity of the ventricle con-
tracted always bearing a certain relation to the capacity
of the ventricle when dilated. And since in dilating,
the ventricles cannot be supposed to get filled with
nothing, or with an imaginary something ; so in con-
tracting they never expel nothing or aught imaginary,
but always a certain something, viz. blood, in proportion
to the amount of the contraction. Whence it is to be
inferred, that if at one stroke the heart in man, the ox,
or the sheep, ejects but a single drachm of blood, and
there are one thousand strokes in half an hour, in this
interval there will have been ten pounds five ounces
expelled : were there with each stroke two drachms
expelled, the quantity would of course amount to twenty
pounds and ten ounces ; were there half an ounce, the
quantity would come to forty-one pounds and eight
ounces ; and were there one ounce, it would be as much
as eighty-three pounds and four ounces ; the whole of
which, in the course of one half-hour, would have been

Heart and Blood 61

transfused from the wins to the arteries. The actual
quantity of blood expelled at each stroke of the heart,
and the circumstances under which it is either greater
or less than ordinary, I leave for particular determination
afterwards, from numerous observations which I have
mad-- on the subject.

Meantime this much I know, and would here pro-
claim to all, that the blood is transfused at one time
in larger, at another in smaller quantity ; and that the
circuit of the blood is accomplished now more rapidly,
now more slowly, according to the temperament, a;4e,
&c., of the individual, to external and internal circum-
stances, to naturals and non-naturals, — sleep, rest, food,
exercise, affections of the mind, and the like. But
indeed, snppqsm£_py pn the smalles t qn.nntitv of blood
to be passed through the heart and the lungs with
eacfc pulsation, a vastly greater amount would still be
thrown~uilja_Lb£_axteries and whole body.iEan could
by any possibility be supplied-by- -tha food, cons umed :
in short it could be furnished in no other way than by
making a circuit and returning.

This truth, indeed, presents itself obviously before
us when we consider what happens in the dissection of
living animals ; the great artery need not be divided,
but a very small branch only, (as Galen even proves in
regard to man,) to have the whole of the blood in the
body, as well that of the veins as of the arteries, drained
away in the course of no long time — some half-hour or
less. Butchers are well aware of the fact and can bear
witness to it ; for, cutting the throat of an ox and so
dividing the vessels of the neck, in less than a quarter
of an hour they have all the vessels bloodless — the
whole mass of blood has escaped. The same thing
also occasionally occurs with great rapidity in per-
forming amputations and removing tumours in the
human subject.

Xor would this argument lose any of its force, did
any one say that in killing animals in the shambles, and

62 Motion of the

performing amputations, the blood escaped in equal,
if not perchance in larger quantity by the veins than by
the arteries. The contrary of this statement, indeed,
is certainly the truth ; the veins, in fact, collapsing,
and being without any propelling power, and further,
because of the impediment of the valves, as I shall
show immediately, pour out but very little blood ; whilst
the arteries spout it forth with force abundantly,
impetuously, and as if it were propelled by a syringe.
And then the experiment is easily tried of leaving the
vein untouched, and only dividing the artery in the
neck of a sheep or dog, when it will be seen with what
force, in what abundance, and how quickly, the whole
blood in the body, of the veins as well as of the
arteries, is emptied. But the arteries receive blood
from the veins in no other way than by transmission
through the heart, as we have already seen ; so that if
the aorta be tied at the base of the heart, and the
carotid or any other artery be opened, no one will now
be surprised to find it empty, and the veins only replete
with blood.

And now the cause is manifest, wherefore in our
dissections we usually find so large a quantity of blood
in the veins, so little in the arteries ; wherefore there is
much in the right ventricle, little in the left ; circum-
stances which probably led the ancients to believe
that the arteries (as their name implies) contained
nothing but spirits during the life of an animal. The
true cause of the difference is this perhaps : that as
there is no passage to the arteries, save through the
lungs and heart, when an animal has ceased to breathe
and the lungs to move, the blood in the pulmonary-
artery is prevented from passing into the pulmonary
veins, and from thence into the left ventricle of the
heart ; just as we have already seen the same transit
prevented in the embryo, by the want of movement in
the lungs and the alternate opening and shutting of
their minute orifices and invisible pores. But the

Heart and Blood 63

heart not ceasing to act at the same precise moment as
the lungs, but surviving them and continuing to pulsate
for a time, the left ventricie and arteries go on dis-
tributing their blood to the body at large and sending
it into the veins ; receiving none from the lungs,
however, they are soon exhausted and left, as it were,
empty. But even this fact confirms our views, in no
trifling manner, seeing that it can be ascribed to no
other than the cause we have just assumed.

Moreover it appears from this that the more frequently
or forcibly the arteries pulsate, the more speedily will
the body be exhausted in an hemorrhagy. Hence,
also, it happens, that in fainting fits and in states of
alarm, when the heart beats more languidly and
with less force, hemorrhages are diminished or
arrested.

Still further, it is from this that after death, when
the heart has ceased to beat, it is impossible by dividing
either the jugular or femoral veins and arteries, by any
effort to force out more than one half of the whole mass
of the blood. Neither could the butcher, did he
I .'Ct to cut the throat of the ox which he has knocked
on the head and stunned, until the heart had ceased
beating, ever bleed the carcass effectually.

Finally, we are now in a condition to suspect where-
fore it is that no one has yet said anything to the
purpose upon the anastomosis of the veins and arteries,
either as to where or how it is effected, or for what
purpose. I now enter upon the investigation of the
subject.

CHAPTER X

THE FIRST POSITION : OF THE QUANTITY OF ELOOD
PASSING FROM THE VEINS TO THE ARTERIES. AND
THAT THERE IS A CIRCUIT OF THE BLOOD, FREED
FROM OBJECTIONS, AND FARTHER CONFIRMED BY
EXPERIMENT

So far our first position is confirmed, whether the
thing be referred to calculation or to experiment and
dissection, viz. that the blood is incessantly infused
into the arteries in larger quantities than it can be
supplied by the food ; so that the whole passing over
in a short space of time, it is matter of necessity that
the blood perform a circuit, that it return to whence it
set out.

But if any one shall here object that a large quantity
may pass through and yet no necessity be found for a
circulation, that all may come from the meat and drink
consumed, and quote as an illustration the abundant
supply of milk in the mammae — for a cow will give
three, four, and even seven gallons and more in a day,
and a woman two or three pints whilst nursing a child
or twins, which must manifestly be derived from the
food consumed ; it may be answered, that the heart by
computation does as much and more in the course of
an hour or two.

And if not yet convinced, he shall still insist, that
when an artery is divided a preternatural route is, as it
were, opened, and that so the blood escapes in torrents,
but that the same thing does not happen in the healthy
and uninjured body when no outlet is made ; and that

64

Motion of the Heart and Blood 65

in arteries filled, or in their natural state, so large a
quantity of blood cannot pass in so short a space of
time as to make any return necessary; — to all this it
may be answered, that from the calculation already
made, and the reasons assigned, it appears, that by
so much as the heart in its dilated state contains in
addition to its contents in the state of constriction, so
much in a general way must it emit upon each pulsa-
tion, and in such quantity must the blood pass, the
body being healthy and naturally constituted.

But in serpents, and several fishes, by tying the veins
some way below the heart, you will perceive a space
between the ligature and the heart speedily to become
empty ; so that, unless you would deny the evidence of
your senses, you must needs admit the return of the
blood to the heart. The same thing will also plainly
appear when we come to discuss our second position.

Let us here conclude with a single example, con-
firming all that has been said, and from which every
one may obtain conviction through the testimony of his
own eyes.

If a li ve snak e be laid open, the heart will be seen
pulsating quietly, distinctly, for more than an hour,
moving like a worm, contracting in its longitudinal
dimensions, (for it is of an oblong shape,) and pro-
pelling its contents; becoming of a paler colour in the
systole, of a deeper tint in the diastole ; and almost all
things else by which I have alread that the truth

I contend for is established, only that here everyth ing
takes jjlace more^lnwly, atMJJsjiiore distinct. This
. point lrTparTfcular may be observed fiTOTe"~"clearly than
the noon-day sun : the vena cava enters the heart at
its lower part, the artery quits it at the superior part ;
the vein being now seized either with forceps or between
the finger and thumb, and the course of the blood for
some space below the heart interrupted, you will preceive
the part that intervenes between the fingers and the
heart almost immediately to become empty, the blood
G 262

66 Motion of the Heart and Blood

being exhausted by the action of the heart ; at the
same time the heart will become of a much paler
colour, even in. its state of dilatation, than it was before ;
it is also smaller than at first, from wanting blood; and
then it begins to beat more slowly, so that it seems at
length as if it were about to die. But the impediment
to the flow of blood being removed, instantly the colour
and the size of the heart are restored.

If, on the contrary, the artery instead of the vein be
compressed or tied, you will observe the part between
the obstacle and the heart, and the heart itself, to become
inordinately distended, to assume a deep purple or even
livid colour, and at length to be so much oppressed
with blood that you will believe it about to be choked ;
but the obstacle removed, all things immediately return
to their pristine state — the heart to its colour, size,
stroke, &c.

Here then we have evidence of two kinds of death :
extinction from deficiency, and suffocation from excess.
Examples of both have now been set before you, and
you have had opportunity of viewing the truth contended
for with your own eyes in the heart.

CHAPTER XI

THE SECOND POSITION IS DEMONSTRATED

That this may the more clearly appear to every one,
I have here to cite certain experiments, from which it
seems obvious that the blood enters a limb by the
arteries, and returns from it by the veins ; that the
arteries are the vessels carrying the blood from
the heart, and the veins the returning channels of
the blood to the heart ; that in the limbs and extreme
parts of the body the blood passes either immediately
by anastomosis from the arteries into the veins, or
mediately by the pores of the flesh, or in both ways,
as has already been said in speaking of the passage of
the blood through the lungs ; whence it appears mani-
fest that in the circuit the blood moves from thence
hither, and from hence thither ; from the centre to the
extremities, to wit ; and from the extreme parts back
again to the centre. Finally, upon grounds of calcula-
tion, with the same elements as before, it will be
obvious that the quantity can neither be accounted
for by the ingesta, nor yet be held necessary to
nutrition.

The same thing will also appear in regard to ligatures,
and wherefore they are said to draw ; though this is
neither from the heat, nor the pain, nor the vacuum
they occasion, nor indeed from any other cause yet
thought of; it will also explain the uses and advantages
to be derived from ligatures in medicine, the principle
upon which they either suppress or occasion hemor-
rhage ; how they induce sloughing and more extensive

67

68 Motion of the

mortification in extremities ; and how they act in the
castration of animals and the removal of warts and
fleshy tumours. But it has come to pass, from no one
having duly weighed and understood the causes and
rationale of these various effects, that though almost all,
upon the faith of the old writers, recommend ligatures in
the treatment of disease, yet very few comprehend their
proper employment, or derive any real assistance from
them in effecting cures.

Ligatures are either very tight or of middling tight-
ness. A ligature I designate as tight or perfect when
it is drawn so close about an extremity that no vessel
can be felt pulsating beyond it. Such a ligature we
use in amputations to control the flow of blood ; and
such also are employed in the castration of animals
and the removal of tumours. In the latter instances,
all afflux of nutriment and heat being prevented by the
ligature, we see the testes and large fleshy tumours
dwindle, and die, and finally fall off.

Ligatures of middling tightness I regard as those
which compress a limb firmly all around, but short of
pain, and in such a way as still suffers a certain degree
of pulsation to be felt in the artery beyond them. Such
a ligature is in use in blood-letting, an operation in
which the fillet applied above the elbow is not drawn
so tight but that the arteries at the wrist may still be felt
beating under the finger.

Now let any one make an experiment upon the arm
of a man, either using such a fillet as is employed in
blood-letting, or grasping the limb tightly with his hand,
the best subject for it being one who is lean, and who
has large veins, and the best time after exercise, when
the body is warm, the pulse is full, and the blood
carried in larger quantities to the extremities, for all
then is more conspicuous ; under such circumstances
let a ligature be thrown about the extremity, and drawn
as tightly as can be borne, it will first be perceived that
beyond the ligature, neither in the wrist, nor anywhere

Heart and Blood 69

else, do the arteries pulsate, at the same time that
immediately above the ligature the artery begins to rise
or at each diastole, to throb more violently, and to
swell in its vicinity with a kind of tide, as if it strove to
break through and overcome the obstacle to its current ;
the artery, here, in short, appears as if it were preter-
naturally full. The hand under such circumstances
retains its natural colour and appearance ; in the course
of time it begins to fall somewhat in temperature, in-
deed, but nothing is drawn into it.

After the bandage has been kept on for some short
time in this way, let it be slackened a little, brought to
that state or term of middling tightness which is used
in bleeding, and it will be seen that the whole hand
and arm will instantly become deeply suffused and
distended, and the veins show themselves tumid and
knotted : after ten or fifteen pulses of the artery, the
hand will be perceived excessively distended, injected,
gorged with blood, drawn, as it is said, by this middling
ligature, without pain, or heat, or any horror of a
vacuum, or any other cause yet indicated.

If the finger be applied over the artery as it is pul-
sating by the edge of the fillet, at the moment of
slackening it, the blood will be felt to glide through,
as it were, underneath the finger; and he, too, upon
whose arm the experiment is made, when the ligature
is slackened, is distinctly conscious of a sensation of
warmth, and of something, viz. a stream of blood,
suddenly making its way along the course of the
vessels' and diffusing itself through the hand, which
at the same time begins to feel hot, and becomes
distended.

As we had noted, in connexion with the tight ligature,
that the artery above the bandage was distended and
pulsated, not below it, so, in the case of the moderately
tight bandage, on the contrary, do we find that the veins
below, never above, the fillet, swell, and become dilated,
whilst the arteries shrink ; and such is the degree of

70 Motion of the

distension of the veins here, that it is only very strong
pressure that will force the blood beyond the fillet, and
cause any of the veins in the upper part of the arm
to rise.

From these facts it is easy for every careful observer
to learn that the blood enters an extremity by the
arteries ; for when they are effectually compressed
nothing is drawn to the member ; the hand preserves
its colour ; nothing flows into it, neither is it distended ;
but when the pressure is diminished, as it is with the
bleeding fillet, it is manifest that the blood is instantly
thrown in with force, for then the hand begins to swell ;
which is as much as to say, that when the arteries
pulsate the blood is flowing through them, as it is when
the moderately tight ligature is applied ; but where they
do not pulsate, as when a tight ligature is used, they
cease from transmitting anything ; they are only dis-
tended above the part where the ligature is applied.
The veins again being compressed, nothing can flow
through them ; the certain indication of which is, that
below the ligature they are much more tumid than
above it, and than they usually appear when there is no
bandage upon the arm.

It therefore plainly appears that the ligature prevents
the return., of the blood through the veins to the parts
above it, and maintains those beneath it rrra~5Tafe~~of
permanent distension. But the arteries, in spite of its
pressure, and under the force and impulse of the heart,
send on the blood from the internal parts of the body
to the parts beyond the bandage. And herein consists
the difference between the tight and the medium
bandage, that the former not only prevents the passage
of the blood in the veins, but in the arteries also ; the
latter, however, whilst it does not prevent the pulsific
force from extending beyond it, and so propelling the
blood to the extremities of the body, compresses the
veins, and greatly or altogether impedes the return of
the blood through them.

Heart and Blood 71

Seeing, therefore, that the moderately tight ligature

renders the veins turgid, and the whole hand full of
blood, I ask, whence is this? Does the blood accu-
mulate below the ligature coming through the veins, or
through the arteries, or passing by certain secret pores?
Through the veins it cannot come ; still less can it
come by any system of invisible pores; it must needs
arrive by the arteries, then, in conformity with all that
has been already said. That it cannot flow in by the
veins appears plainly enough from the fact that the
blood cannot be forced towards the heart unless
the ligature be removed ; when on a sudden all the
veins collapse, and disgorge themselves of their contents
into the superior parts, the hand at the same time
r< suming its natural pale colour — the tumefaction and
the stagnating blood have disappeared.

Moreover, he whose arm or wrist has thus been
bound for some littlejime with the medium bandage,
so tfTaTlt has not only got swollen and livid but cold,
when the fillet is undone is aware of something cold
making its way upwards along with the returning blood,
and reaching the elbow or the axilla. And I have
myself been inclined to think that this cold blood
rising upward to the heart was the cause of the fainting
that often occurs after blood-letting : fainting frequently
supervenes even in robust subjects, and mostly at the
moment of undoing the fillet, as the vulgar say, from
the turning of the blood.

Farther, when we see the veins below the ligature
instantly swell up and become gqrged7~when from
extreme tightness it is somewhat relaxed, the arteries
meantime continuing unaffected, this is an obvious
indication that the blood passes from the arteries into
the_y_eins, and not from the veins intojt he arteries , and
that there is either an anastomosis of the two orders of
vessels, or pores in the flesh and solid parts generally
that are permeable to the blood. It is farther an
indication that the veins have frequent communications

72 Motion of the

with one another, because they all become turgid
together, whilst under the medium ligature applied
above the elbow ; and if any single small vein be
pricked with a lancet, they all speedily shrink, and
disburdening themselves into this they subside almost
simultaneously.

These considerations will enable any one to under-
stand the nature of the attraction that is exerted by
ligatures, and perchance of fluxes generally ; how, for
example, the veins when compressed by a bandage of
medium tightness applied above the elbow, the blood
cannot escape, whilst it still continues to be driven in,
to wit, by the forcing power of the heart, by which the
parts are of necessity filled, gorged with blood. And
how should it be otherwise ? Heat and pain and the
vis vacui draw, indeed ; but in such wise only that parts
are filled, not preternaturally distended or gorged, not
so suddenly and violently overwhelmed with the charge
of blood forced in upon them, that the flesh is lacerated
and the vessels ruptured. Nothing of the kind as an
effect of heat, or pain, or the vacuum force, is either
credible or demonstrable.

Besides, the ligature is competent to occasion the
afflux in question without either pain, or heat, or vis
vacui. Were pain in any way the cause, how should
it happen that, with the arm bound above the elbow,
the hand and fingers should swell below the bandage,
and their veins become distended? The pressure of
the bandage certainly prevents the blood from getting
there by the veins. And then, wherefore is there
neither swelling nor repletion of the veins, nor any
sign or symptom of attraction or afflux, above the
ligature ? But this is the obvious cause of the preter-
natural attraction and swelling below the bandage, and
in the hand and fingers, that the blood is entering
abundantly, and with force, but cannot pass out
again.

Now, is not this the cause of all tumefaction, as

Heart and Blood 73

indeed Avicenna has it, and of all oppressive redun-
dancy in parts, that the access to them is open, but
the egress from them is closed ? Whence it comes
that they are gorged and tumefied. And may not the
same thing happen in local inflammations, where, so
long as the swelling is on the increase, and has not
reached its extreme term, a full pulse is felt in the
part, especially svhen the disease is of the more acute
kind, and the swelling usually takes place most rapidly.
But these are matters for after discussion. Or does
this, which occurred in my own case, happen from
the same cause ? Thrown from a carriage upon one
occasion, I struck my forehead a blow upon the place
where a twig of the artery advances from the temple,
and immediately, within the time in which twenty beats
could have been made, I felt a tumour the size of an
egg developed, without either heat or any great pain :
the near vicinity of the artery had caused the blood
to be effused into the bruised part with unusual force
and quickness.

And now, too, we understand wherefore in phlebo-
tomy we apply our fillet above the part that is punctured,
not below it ; did the flow come from above, not from
below, the bandage in this case would not only be
of no service, but would prove a positive hinderance ;
it would have to be applied below the orifice, in order
to have the flow more free, did the blood descend by
the veins from superior to inferior parts ; but as it is
elsewhere forced through the extreme arteries into the
extreme veins, and the return in these last is opposed
by the ligature, so do they fill and swell, and being
thus filled and distended, they are made capable of
projecting their charge with force, and to a distance,
when any one of them is suddenly punctured ; but
the fillet being slackened, and the returning channels
thus left open, the blood forthwith no longer escapes,
save by drops ; and, as all the world knows, if in per-
forming phlebotomy the bandage be either slackened

74 Motion of the Heart and Blood

too much or the limb be bound too tightly, the blood
escapes without force, because in the one case the
returning channels are not adequately obstructed; in
the other the channels of influx, the arteries, are
impeded.

CHAPTER XII

THAT THERE IS A CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS
SHOWN FROM THE SECOND POSITION DEMONSTRATED

If these things be so, another point which I have
already referred to, viz. the continual passage of the
blood through the heart, will also be confirmed. We
have seen, that the blood passes from the arteries into
the veins, not from the veins into the arteries ; we
have seen, farther, that almost the whole of the blood
may be withdrawn from a puncture made in one of
the cutaneous veins of the arm if a bandage properly
applied be used; we have seen, still farther, that the
blood flows so freely and rapidly that not only is the
whole quantity which was contained in the arm beyond
the ligature, and before the puncture was made, dis-
charged, but the whole which is contained in the body,
both that of the arteries and that of the veins.

Whence we must admit, first, that the blood is sent
along with an impulse, and that it is urged with force
below the fillet ; for it escapes with force, which force
it receives from the pulse and power of the heart ;
for the force and motion of the blood are derived from
the heart alone. Second, that the afflux proceeds from
the heart, and through the heart by a course from the
great veins [into the aorta] ; for it gets into the parts
below the ligature through the arteries, not through
the veins ; and the arteries nowhere receive blood
from the veins, nowhere receive blood save and except
from the left ventricle of the heart. Nor could so
large a quantity of blood be drawn from one vein

75

7 6

Motion of the

(a ligature having been duly applied), nor with such
impetuosity, such readiness, such celerity, unless
through the medium of the impelling power of the
heart.

But if all things be as they are now represented,
we shall feel ourselves at liberty to calculate the
quantity of the blood, and to reason on its circular
motion. Should any one, for instance, in performing
phlebotomy, suffer the blood to flow in the manner it
usually does, with force and freely, for some half-hour
or so, no question but that the greatest part of the
blood being abstracted, faintings and syncopes would
ensue, and that not only would the arteries but the
great veins also be nearly emptied of their contents. It
is only consonant with reason to conclude that in the
course of the half-hour hinted at, so much as has
escaped has also passed from the great veins through
the heart into the aorta. And further, if we calculate
how many ounces flow through one arm, or how many
pass in twenty or thirty pulsations under the medium
ligature, we shall have some grounds for estimating
how much passes through the other arm in the same
space of time ; how much through both lower ex-
tremities, how much through the neck on either side,
and through all the other arteries and veins of the
body, all of which have been supplied with fresh blood,
and as this blood must have passed through the lungs
and ventricles of the heart, and must have come from
the great veins, — we shall perceive that a circulation
is absolutely necessary, seeing that the quantities-hinted
at cannot be supplied immediately from i.he ingesta,
and are vastly more than can be requisite for the mere
nutrition of the parts.

It is still further to be observed, that the truths
contended for are sometimes confirmed in another
way ; for having tied up the arm properly, and made
the puncture duly, still, if from alarm or any other
causes, a state of faintness supervenes, in which the

Heart and Blood 77

heart always pulsates more languidly, the blood does
not flow freely, hut distils hydrops only. The reason
is, that with the somewhat greater than usual resistance
offered to the transit of the blood by the bandage,
coupled with the weaker action of the heart, and its
diminished impelling power, the stream cannot make
its way under the fillet ; and farther, owing to the weak
and languishing state of the heart, the blood is not
transferred in such quantity as wont from the veins
to the arteries through the sinuses of that organ. So
also, and for the same reasons, are the menstrual fluxes
of women, and indeed hemorrhagies of every kind,
controlled. And now, a contrary state of things occur-
ring, the patient getting rid of his fear and recovering
his courage, the pulsific power is increased, the arteries
begin again to beat with greater force, and to drive
the blood even into the part that is bound ; so that
the blood now springs from the puncture in the vein,
and flows in a continuous stream.

CHAPTER XIII

THE THIRD POSITION IS CONFIRMED : AND THE CIRCU-
LATION OF THE BLOOD IS DEMONSTRATED FROM IT

Thus far have we spoken of the quantity of blood
passing through the heart and the lungs in the centre
of the body, and in like manner from the arteries into
the veins in the peripheral parts and the body at large.
We have yet to explain, however, in what manner the
blood finds its way back to the heart from the ex-
tremities by the veins, and how and in what way these
are the only vessels that convey the blood from the
external to the central parts ; which done, I conceive
that the three fundamental propositions laid down for
the circulation of the blood will be so plain, so well
established, so obviously true, that they may claim
general credence. Now the remaining position will be
made sufficiently clear from the valves which are
found in the cavities of the veins themselves, from the
uses of these, and from experiments cognizable by the
senses.

The celebrated Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapen-
dente, a most skilful anatomist, and venerable old man,
or, as the learned Riolan will have it, Jacobus Silvius,
first gave representations of the valves in the veins,
which consist of raised or loose portions of the inner
membranes of these vessels, of extreme delicacy, and
a sigmoid or semilunar shape. They are situated at
different distances from one another, and diversely in
different individuals ; they are connate at the sides of
the veins ; they are directed upwards or towards the

78

Motion of the Heart and Blood 79

trunks of the veins ; the two — for there are for the
most part two together — regard each other, mutually
touch, and are so ready to come into contact by their
edges, that if anything attempt to pass from the trunks
into the branches of the veins, or from the greater
I Is into the less, they completely prevent it ; they
are farther so arranged, that the horns of those that
succeed are opposite the middle of the convexity of
those that precede, and so on alternately.

The discoverer of these valves did not rightly under-
their use, nor have succeeding anatomists added any-
thing to our knowledge : for their office is by no means
explained when we are told that it is to hinder the
blood, by its weight, from all flowing into inferior
parts ; for the edges of the valves in the jugular veins
hang downwards, and are so contrived that they
prevent the blood from rising upwards ; the valves,
in a word, do not invariably look upwards, but always
towards the trunks of the veins, invariably towards the
seat of the heart. I, and indeed others, have some-
times found valves in the emulgent veins, and in those
of the mesentery, the edges of which were directed
towards the vena cava and vena portae. Let it be
added that there are no valves in the arteries [save at
their roots], and that dogs, oxen, &c, have invariably
valves at the divisions of their crural veins, in the veins
that meet towards the top of the os sacrum, and in
those branches which come from the haunches, in
which no such effect of gravity from the erect position
was to be apprehended. Neither are there valves in
the jugular veins for the purpose of guarding against
apoplexy, as some have said ; because in sleep the
head is more apt to be influenced by the contents of
the carotid arteries. Neither are the valves present, in
order that the blood may be retained in the divarica-
tions or smaller trunks and minuter branches, and not
be suffered to flow entirely into the more open and
capacious channels ; for they occur where there are no

l<

Motion of the

irications; although it must be owned that they
"are most frequent at the points where branches join.
Neither do they exist for the purpose of rendering
the current of blood more slow from the centre of the
body ; for it seems likely that the blood would be dis-
posed to flow with sufficient slowness of its own accord,
as it would have to pass from larger into continually
smaller vessels, being separated from the mass and
fountain head, and attaining from warmer into colder
places.

But the valves are solely made and instituted lest the
blood should pass from the greater into the lesser veins,
and either rupture them or cause them to become
varicose ; lest, instead of advancing from the extreme
to the central parts of the body, the blood should
rather proceed along the veins from the centre to the
extremities ; but the delicate valves, while they readily
open in the right direction, entirely prevent all such
contrary motion, being so situated and arranged, that
if anything escapes, or is less perfectly obstructed by
the cornua of the one above, the fluid passing, as it
were, by the chinks between the cornua, it is imme-
diately received on the convexity of the one beneath,
which is placed transversely with reference to the
former, and so is effectually hindered from getting any
farther.

And this I have frequently experienced in my dis-
sections of the veins : if I attempted to pass a probe
from the trunk of the veins into one of the smaller
branches, whatever care I took I found it impossible
to introduce it far any way, by reason of the valves ;
whilst, on the contrary, it was most easy to push it
along in the opposite direction, from without inwards,
or from the branches towards the trunks and roots.
In many places two valves are so placed and fitted,
that when raised they come exactly together in the
middle of the vein, and are there united by the contact
of their margins; and so accurate is the adaptation,

Heart and Blood 81

that neither by the eye nor by any other means of
examination can the slightest chink along the line
of contact be perceived. But if the probe be now
introduced from the extreme towards the more central
parts, the valves, like the floodgates of a river, give
way, and are most readily pushed aside. The effect
of this arrangement plainly is to prevent all motion of
the blood from the heart and vena cava, whether it be
upwards towards the head, or downwards towards the
feet, or to either side towards the arms, not a drop can
pass ; all motion of the blood, beginning in the larger
and tending towards the smaller veins, is opposed and
resisted by them ; whilst the motion that proceeds from
the lesser to end in the larger branches is favoured, or,
at all events, a free and open passage is left for it.

But that this truth may be made the more apparent,
let an arm be tied up above the elbow as if for
phlebotomy (a, a, fig. i). At intervals in the course
of the veins, especially in labouring people and those
whose veins are large, certain knots or elevations (b, c,
d, e, f) will be perceived, and this not only at the
places where a branch is received (e, f), but also where
none enters (c, d) : these knots or risings are all formed
by valves, which thus show themselves externally. And
now if you press the blood from the space above one of
the valves, from H to o, (fig. 2,) and keep the point of
a finger upon the vein inferiorly, you will see no influx
of blood from above ; the portion of the vein between the
point of the finger and the valve o will be obliterated ;
yet will the vessel continue sufficiently distended above
that valve (o, g). The blood being thus pressed out,
and the vein emptied, if you now apply a finger of the
other hand upon the distended part of the vein above
the valve o, (fig. 3,) and press downwards, you will find
that you cannot force the blood through or beyond the
valve; but the greater effort you use, you will only see
the portion of vein that is between the finger and the
valve become more distended, that portion of the vein
H 262

82 Motion of the Heart and Blood

which is below the valve remaining all the while empty
(h, o, fig. 3).

It would therefore appear that the function of the
valves in the veins is the same as that of the three
sigmoid valves which we find at the commencement of
the aorta and pulmonary artery, viz., to prevent all
reflux of the blood that is passing over them.

Farther, the arm being bound as before, and the
veins looking full and distended, if you press at one
part in the course of a vein with the point of a finger
(l, fig. 4), and then with another finger streak the blood
upwards beyond the next valve (n), you will perceive
that this portion of the vein continues empty (l n),
and that the blood cannot retrogade, precisely as we
have already seen the case to be in fig. 2 ; but the
finger first applied (h, fig. 2, l, fig. 4), being removed,
immediately the vein is filled from below, and the arm
becomes as it appears at d c, fig. 1. That the blood
in the veins therefore proceeds from inferior or more
remote to superior parts, and towards the heart, moving
in these vessels in this and not in the contrary direc-
tion, appears most obviously. And although in some
places the valves, by not acting with such perfect
accuracy, or where there is but a single valve, do not
seem totally to prevent the passage of the blood from
the centre, still the greater number of them plainly do
so ; and then, where things appear contrived more
negligently, this is compensated either by the more
frequent occurrence or more perfect action of the suc-
ceeding valves or in some other way : the veins, in
short, as they are the free and open conduits of the
blood returning to the heart, so are they effectually
prevented from serving as its channels of distribution
from the heart.

But this other circumstance has to be noted : The
arm being bound, and the veins made turgid, and the
valves prominent, as before apply the thumb or finger
over a vein in the situation of one of the valves in such

v~

84 Motion of the Heart and Blood

a way as to compress it, and prevent any blood from
passing upwards from the hand ; then, with a finger of
the other hand, streak the blood in the vein upwards
till it has passed the next valve above, (n, fig. 4,) the
vessel now remains empty ; but the finger at l being
removed for an instant, the vein is immediately filled
from below ; apply the finger again, and having in the
same manner streaked the blood upwards, again remove
the finger below, and again the vessel becomes dis-
tended as before ; and this repeat, say a thousand times,
in a short space of time. And now compute the quantity
of blood which you have thus pressed up beyond the
valve, and then multiplying the assumed quantity by
one thousand, you will find that so much blood has
passed through a certain portion of the vessel ; and
I do now believe that you will find yourself convinced
of the circulation of the blood, and of its rapid motion.
But if in this experiment you say that a violence is done
to nature, I do not doubt but that, if you proceed in
the same way, only taking as great a length of vein as
possible, and merely remark with what rapidity the
blood flows upwards, and fills the vessel from below,
you will come to the same conclusion.

CHAPTER XIV

CONCLUSION OK THE DEMONSTRATION OK THE
CIRCULATION

And now I may be allowed to give in brief my view
of the circulation of the blood, and to propose it for
general adoption.

Since all things, both argument and ocular demon-
stration, show that the blood passes through the lungs
and heart by the action of the [auricles and] ventricles,
and is sent for distribution to all parts of the body,
where it makes its way into the veins and pores of the
flesh, and th en flows by the veins from the circum-
ference on every side to the centre, from the lesser to
the greater veins, and is by them finally discharged into
the vena cava and right auricle of the heart, and this in
such a quantity or in such a flux and reflux thither by the
arteries, hither by the veins, as cannot possibly be sup-
plied by the ingesta, and is much greater than can be
required for mere purposes of nutrition ; it is absolutely
necessary to conclude that the blood in the animal body
is impelled in a circle, and is in a state of ceaseless
motion ; that this is the act or function which the heart
performs by means of its pulse ; and that it is the
sole and only end of the motion and contraction of the
heart.

85

CHAPTER XV

THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS FURTHER
CONFIRMED BY PROBABLE REASONS

It will not be foreign to the subject if I here show
further, from certain familiar reasonings, that the circu-
lation is matter both of convenience and necessity.
In the first place, since death is a corruption which
takes place through deficiency of heat, 1 and since all
living things are warm, all dying things cold, there must
be a particular seat and fountain, a kind of home and
hearth, where the cherisher of nature, the original of
the native fire, is stored and preserved ; whence h,S3t
and life are dispensed to all parts as from a fountain
head ; whence sustenance may be derived ; and upon
which concoction and nutrition, and all vegetative energy
may depend. Now, that the heart is this place, that the
heart is the principle of life, and that all passes in the
manner just mentioned, I trust no one will deny.

The blood, therefore, required to have-motion, and
indeed such a motion that it should return again to the
heart; for sent to the external parts of the body far from
'its fountain, as Aristotle says, and without motion, it
would become congealed. For we see motion generating
and keeping up heat and spirits under all circumstances,
and rest allowing them to escape and be dissipated.
The blood, therefore, become thick or congealed by the
cold of the extreme and outward parts, and robbed of
its spirits, just as it is in the dead, it was imperative
that from its fount and origin, it should again receive

' Aristoteles De Respiratione, lib. ii et iii : De Part. Animal, et alibi.

86

Motion of the Heart and Blood 87

heat and spirits, and all vise requisite to its preservation —
that, by returning, it should be renovated and restored.

We frequently see how the extremities are chilled by
the external cold, how the nose and cheeks and hands
look blue, and how the blood, stagnating in them as in
the pendent or lower parts of a corpse, becomes of a
dusky hue ; the limbs at the same time getting torpid,
so that they can scarcely be moved, and seem almost
to have lost their vitality. Now they can by no means
be so effectually, and especially so speedily restored
to heat and colour and life, as by a new afflux and
appulsion of heat from its source. But how can parts
attract in which the heat and life are almost extinct ?
Or how should thev whose passages are filled with
conden.^d and frigid blond, admit fresh aliment —
ren6v ated blo od — unl ess thev had fi rst got rid of their
old co nt ents t Unless the heart were truly that fou ntain
where life and heat are restored to the refrigerated fluid,
and whence n ew bl ood, warm, imbued with spirits,
being sent out b v the art eries, that which has become
cooled anoT' gjTeTe^i s forced on, and all the particles
recov er their^he at~which was failing, and their vital
stimulus well-nigh exhausted.

Hence it is that if the heart be unaffected, life and
health may be restored to almost all the other parts
of the body ; but the heart being chilled, or smitten
with any serious disease, it seems matter of necessity
that the whole animal fabric should suffer and fall into
decay. When the *<"".-* ; s rorniptf^, * h f;rf is nothing,
as Aristotle says, 1 which can b e of servi ce eit her _t o it or
aught that d*4itmds_on it. "And hence", by the way, it
may perchance be wherefore grief, and love, and envy,
and anxiety, and all affections of the mind of a similar
kind are accompanied with emaciation and decay, or
with cacochemy and crudity, which engender all manner
of diseases and consume the body of man. For every
affection of the mind that is attended with either pain

1 De Part. Animal, iii.

83 Motion of the

or pleasure, hope or fear, is the cause of an agitation
whose influence extends to the heart, and there induces
change from the natural constitution, in the temperature,
the pulse and the rest, which impairing all nutrition in
its source and abating the powers at large, it is no
wonder that various forms of incurable disease in the
extremities and in the trunk are the consequence,
inasmuch as in such circumstances the whole body
labours under the effects of vitiated nutrition and
a want of native heat.

Moreover, when we see that all animals live through
food concocted in their interior, it is imperative that
the digestion and distribution be perfect ; and, as a
consequence, that there be a place and receptacle where
the aliment is perfected and whence it is distributed to
the several members. Now this place is the heart, for
it is the only organ in the body which contains blood
for the general use ; all the others receive it merely for
their peculiar or private advantage, just as the heart also
has a supply for its own especial behoof in its coronary
veins and arteries ; but it is of the store which the heart
contains in its auricles and ventricles that I here speak;
and then the heart is the only organ which is so
situated and constituted that it can distribute the blood
in due proportion to the several parts of the body, the
quantity sent to each being according to the dimensions
of the artery which supplies it, the heart serving as
a magazine or fountain ready to meet its demands.

Further, a certain impulse or force, as well as an
impeller or forcer, such as the heart, was required to
effect this distribution and motion of the blood ; both
because the blood is disposed from slight causes, such
as cold, alarm, horror, and the like, to collect in its
source, to concentrate like parts to a whole, or the
drops of water spilt upon a table to the mass of liquid ;
and then because it is forced from the capillary veins
into the smaller ramifications, and from these into the
larger trunks by the motion of the extremities and the

Heart and Bloo 1 89

compression of the muscle-, generally. The blood is
thus more disposed to move from the circumference to
the centre than in the opposite direction, were there
even no valves to oppose its motion ; whence that it may
leave its source and enter more confined and colder
channels, and flow against the direction to which it
spontaneously inclines, the blood requires hoth force
and an impelling power. Now such is the heart and
the heart alone, and that in the way and manner
already explained.

CHAPTER XVI

THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS FURTHER PROVED
FROM CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES

There are still certain phenomena, which, taken as
consequences of this truth assumed as proven, are not
without their use in exciting belief, as it were, a
posteriore ; and which, although they may seem to be
involved in much doubt and obscurity, nevertheless
readily admit of having reasons and causes assigned
for them. The phenomena alluded to are those that
present themselves in connexion with contagions,
poisoned wounds, the bites of serpents and rabid
animals, lues venerea and the like. We sometimes
see the whole system contaminated, though the part
first infected remains sound ; the lues venerea has
occasionally made its attack with pains in the shoulders
and head, and other symptoms, the genital organs being
all the while unaffected ; and then we know that the
wound made by a rabid dog having healed, fever and
a train of disastrous symptoms nevertheless supervene.
Whence it appears that the contagion impressed upon
or deposited in a particular part, is by and by carried
by the returning current of blood to the heart, and by
that organ is sent to contaminate the whole body.

In tertian fever, the morbific cause seeking the heart
in the first instance, and hanging about the heart and
lungs, renders the patient short-winded, disposed to
sighing, indisposed to exertion ; because the vital
principle is oppressed and the blood forced into the
lungs and rendered thick, does not pass through their

90

Motion of the Heart and Blood 91

substance, (as I have myself seen in opening the bodies
of those who had died in the beginning of the attack,)
when the pulse is always frequent, small, and occasionally
irregular ; but the heat increasing, the matter becoming
attenuated, the passages forced, and the transit made,
the whole body begins to rise in temperature, and the
pulse becomes fuller, stronger — the febrile paroxysm is
fully formed, whilst the preternatural heat kindled in
the heart, is thence diffused by the arteries through the
whole body along with the morbific matter, which is in
this way overcome and dissolved by nature.

When we perceive, further, that medicines applied
externally exert their influence on the body just as
if they had been taken internally, the truth we are con-
tending for is confirmed. Colocynth and aloes [applied
externally] move the belly, cantharides excites the urine,
garlic applied to the soles of the feet assists expectora-
tion, cordials strengthen, and an infinite number of
examples of the same kind might be cited. It will
not, therefore, be found unreasonable perchance, if we
say that the veins, by means of their orifices, absorb
some of the things that are applied externally and
carry this inwards with the blood, not otherwise, it
may be, than those of the mesentery imbibe the chyle
from the intestines and carry it mixed with the blood
to the liver. For the blood entering the mesentery
by the cceliac artery, and the superior and inferior
mesenteries, proceeds to the intestines, from which,
along with the chyle that has been attracted into the
veins, it returns by their numerous ramifications into
the vena portae of the liver, and from this into the
vena cava, and this in such wise that the blood in these
veins has the same colour and consistency as in other
veins, in opposition to what many believe to be the
fact. Nor indeed can we imagine two contrary motions
in any capillary system — the chyle upwards, the blood
downwards. This could scarcely take place, and must
be held as altogether improbable. But is not the thing

92 Motion of the

rather arranged as it is by the consummate providence
of nature? For were the chyle mingled with the blood,
the crude with the concocted, in equal proportions, the
result would not be concoction, transmutation, and
sanguification, but rather, and because they are
severally active and passive, a mixture or combina-
tion, or medium compound of the two, precisely as
happens when wine is mixed with water and syrup.
But when a very minute quantity of chyle is mingled
with a very large quantity of circulating blood, a
quantity of chyle that bears no kind of proportion to
the mass of blood, the effect is the same, as Aristotle
says, as when a drop of water is added to a cask of
wine, or the contrary ; the mass does not then present
itself as a mixture, but is still sensibly either wine or
water. So in the mesenteric veins of an animal we do
not find either chyme or chyle and blood, blended
together or distinct, but only blood, the same in colour,
consistency, and other sensible properties, as it appears
in the veins generally. Still as there is a certain though
small and inappreciable proportion of chyle or uncon-
cocted matter mingled with this blood, nature has inter-
posed the liver, in whose meandering channels it suffers
delay and undergoes additional change, lest arriving
prematurely and crude at the heart, it should oppress
the vital principle. Hence in the embryo, there is
almost no use for the liver, but the umbilical vein
passes directly through, a foramen or anastomosis
existing from the vena portas, so that the blood
returns from the intestines of the foetus, not through
the liver, but into the umbilical vein mentioned, and
flows at once into the heart, mingled with the natural
blood which is returning from the placenta : whence
also it is that in the development of the foetus the liver
is one of the organs that is last formed; I have observed
all the members perfectly marked out in the human
foetus, even the genital organs, whilst there was yet
scarcely any trace of the liver. And indeed at the

Heart and Blood 93

period when all the parts, like the heart itself in the
beginning, are still white, and save in the veins there
is no appearance of redness, you shall see nothing in
the seat of the liver but a shapeless collection, as it
were, of extravasated blood, which you might take for
the effects of a contusion or ruptured vein.

But in the incubated egg there are, as it were, two
umbilical vessels, one from the albumen passing entire
through the liver, and going straight to the heart ;
another from the yelk, ending in the vena portre ; for
it appears that the chick, in the first instance, is entirely
formed and nourished by the white ; but by the yelk
after it has come to perfection and is excluded from
the shell ; for this part may still be found in the
abdomen of the chick many days after its exclusion,
and is a substitute for the milk to other animals.

But these matters will be better spoken of in my
observations on the formation of the foetus, where
many propositions, the following among the number,
will be discussed : Wherefore is this part formed or
perfected first, that last ? — and of the several members :
what part is the cause of another ? And many points
having special reference to the heart, such as : Where-
fore does it first acquire consistency, and appear to
possess life, motion, sense, before any other part of the
body is perfected, as Aristotle says in his third book,
De partibus Animalium ? And so also of the blood :
Wherefore does it precede all the rest? And in what
way does it possess the vital and animal principle ?
And show a tendency to motion, and to be impelled
hither and thither, the end for which the heart appears
to be made ? In the same way, in considering the
pulse : Wherefore one kind of pulse should indicate
death, another recovery ? And so of all the other
kinds of pulse, what may be the cause and indication
of each. So also in the consideration of crises and
natural critical discharges ; of nutrition, and especially
the distribution of the nutriment ; and of defiuxions of

94 Motion of the

every description. Finally, reflecting on every part of
medicine, physiology, pathology, semeiotics, therapeutics,
when I see how many questions can be answered, how
many doubts resolved, how much obscurity illustrated,
by the truth we have declared, the light we have made
to shine, I see a field of such vast extent in which I
might proceed so far, and expatiate so widely, that this
my tractate would not only swell out into a volume,
which was beyond my purpose, but my whole life,
perchance, would not suffice for its completion.

In this place, therefore, and that indeed in a single
chapter, I shall only endeavour to refer the various
particulars that present themselves in the dissection
of the heart and arteries to their several uses and
causes ; for so I shall meet with many things which
receive light from the truth I have been contending
for, and which, in their turn, render it more obvious.
And indeed I would have it confirmed and illustrated
by anatomical arguments above all others.

There is but a single point which indeed would be
more correctly placed among our observations on the
use of the spleen, but which it will not be altogether
impertinent to notice in this place incidentally. From
the splenic branch which passes into the pancreas, and
from the upper part, arise the posterior coronary, gastric,
and gastroepiploic veins, all of which are distributed
upon the stomach in numerous branches and twigs,
just as the mesenteric vessels are upon the intestines ;
in like manner, from the inferior part of the same
splenic branch, and along the back of the colon and
rectum proceed the hemorrhoidal veins. The blood
returning by these veins, and bringing the cruder juices
along with it, on the one hand from the stomach, where
they are thin, watery, and not yet perfectly chylified ;
on the other thick and more earthy, as derived from
the fasces, but all poured into this splenic branch, are
duly tempered by the admixture of contraries ; and
nature mingling together these two kinds of juices,

1 1 cart and Blood 95

difficult of coction by reason of most opposite defects,
and then diluting them with a large quantity of warm
blood, (for we see that the quantity returned from tin-
spleen must be very large when we contemplate the size
of its arteries,) they are brought to tin porta of the liver
in a state of higher preparation ; the defects of either ex-
treme are supplied and compensated by this arrangement
of the veins.

CHAPTER XVII

THE MOTION AND CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD ARE
CONFIRMED FROM THE PARTICULARS APPARENT IN
THE STRUCTURE OF THE HEART, AND FROM THOSE
THINGS WHICH DISSECTION UNFOLDS

I DO not find the heart as a distinct and separate part
in all animals ; some, indeed, such as the zoophytes,
have no heart ; this is because these animals are coldest,
of no great bulk, of soft texture or of a certain uniform
sameness or simplicity of structure ; among the number
I may instance grubs and earth-worms, and those that
are engendered of putrefaction and do not preserve
their species. These have no heart, as not requiring
any impeller of nourishment into the extreme parts ;
for they have bodies which are connate and homo-
geneous, and without limbs; so that by the contraction
and relaxation of the whole body they assume and
expel, move and remove the aliment. Oysters, mussels,
sponges, and the whole genus of zoophytes or plant-
animals have no heart ; for the whole body is used as a
heart, or the whole animal is a heart. In a great number
of animals, almost the whole tribe of insects, we cannot
see distinctly by reason of the smallness of the body ;
still in bees, flies, hornets, and the like, we can perceive
something pulsating with the help of a magnifying glass ;
in pediculi, also, the same thing may be seen, and as
the body is transparent, the passage of the food through
the intestines, like a black spot or stain, may be
perceived by the aid of the same magnifying glass.

In some of the bloodless i and colder animals,

' [i.e. Not having red blood.]

96

Motion of the Heart and Blood 97

further, as in snails, whelks, shrimps, and shell-fish,
there is a part which pulsates — a kind of vesicle or
auricle with tut a heart — slowly indeed, and not to be
perceived save in the warmer season of the year. In
these creatures this part is so contrived that it shall
pulsate, as there is here a necessity for some impulse to
distribute the nutritive fluid, by reason of the variety of
organic parts, or of the density of the substance ; hut
the puls.ui' us occur unfrequently, and sometimes in
consequence of the cold not at all, an arrangement the
best adapted to them as being of a doubtful nature,
so that sometimes they appear to live, sometimes to
die ; sometimes they show the vitality of an animal,
sometimes of a vegetable. This seems also to be the
case with the insects which conceal themselves in
winter, and lie, as it were, defunct, or merely manifest-
ing a kind of vegetative existence. But whether the
same thing happens in the case of certain animals
that have red blood, such as frogs, tortoises, serpents,
swallows, may be made a question without any kind of
impropriety.

In all the larger and warmer, because [red-] blooded
animals, there was need of an impeller of the nutritive
fluid, and that perchance possessing a considerable
amount of power. In fishes, serpents, lizards, tortoises,
frogs, and others of the same kind there is a heart
present, furnished with both an auricle and a ventricle,
whence it is perfectly true, as Aristotle has observed, 1
that no [red] blooded animal is without a heart, by the
impelling power of which the nutritive fluid is forced,
both with greater vigour and rapidity to a greater
distance ; it is not merely agitated by an auricle as it is
in lower forms. And then in regajd_tp animals that
are yet larger, warmer, and mofe perfect, as they
abound in blood, which is ever .h otter and more
spirituous, and possess bodies of greater size and con-
sistency, they require a larger, stronger, and more

* De Part. Animal, lib. iii.
I .162

98

Motion of the

fleshy heart, in order that the nutritive fluid may be
propelled with yet greater force and celerity. And
further, inasmuch as the more perfect animals require a
still more perfect nutrition, and a larger supply of
native heat, in order that the aliment may be thoroughly
concocted and acquire the last degree of perfection,
they required both lungs and a second ventricle, which
should force the nutritive fluid through them.

Every animal that has lungs has therefore two
ventricles to its heart, one right, another left ; and
wherever there is a right, there also is there a left
ventricle ; but the contrary of this does not hold good :
where there is a left there is not always a right ventricle.
The left ventricle I call that which is distinct in office,
not in place from the other, that one namely which
distributes the blood to the body at large, not to the
lungs only. Hence the left ventricle seems to form
the principal part of the heart ; situated in the middle,
more strongly marked, and constructed with greater
care, the heart seems formed for the sake of the left
ventricle, and the right but to minister to it ; for the
right neither reaches to the apex of the heart, nor is it
nearly of such strength, being three times thinner in its
walls, and in some sort jointed on to the left, (as
Aristotle says ;) though indeed it is of greater capacity,
inasmuch as it has not only to supply material to the
left ventricle, but likewise to furnish aliment to the lungs.

It is to be observed, however, that all this is other-
wise in the embryo, where there is not such a difference
between the two ventricles ; but as in a double nut,
they are nearly equal in all respects, the apex of the
right reaching to the apex of the left, so that the heart
presents itself as a sort of double-pointed cone. And
this is so, because in the foetus, as already said, whilst
the blood is not passing through the lungs from the
right to the left cavities of the heart, but flowing by
the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus, directly from
the vena cava into the aorta, whence it is distributed to

Heart and Blood 99

the whole body, both ventricles have in fact the same
office to perform, whence their equality of constitution.
It is only when the lungs come to be used, and it is
requisite that the passages indicated should be blocked
up, that the diflerences in point of strength and other
things between the two ventricles begin to be apparent :
in the altered circumstances the right has only to
throw the blood through the lunus, whilst the left has
to impel it through the whole body.

There are further within the heart numerous braces,
so to speak, fleshy columns and fibrous bands,
which Aristotle, in his third book on Respiration, and
the Parts of Animals, entitles nerves. These are
variously extended, and are either distinct or contained
in grooves in the walls and partition, where they
oci ision numerous pits or depressions. They constitute
a kind of small muscles, which are superadded and
supplementary to the heart, assisting it to execute a
more powerful and perfect contraction, and so proving
subservient to the complete expulsion of the blood.
They are in some sort like the elaborate and artful
arrangement of ropes in a ship, bracing the heart on
every side as it contracts, and so enabling it more
effectually and forcibly to expel the charge of blood
from its ventricles. This much is plain, at all events,
that some animals have them strongly marked, others
have them less so ; and, in all that have them, they
are more numerous and stronger in the left than in
the right ventricle ; and whilst some have them in the
left, there are yet none present in the right ventricle.
In the human subject, again, these fleshy columns and
braces are more numerous in the left than in the right
ventricle, and they are more abundant in the ventricles
than in the auricles ; occasionally, indeed, in the
auricles there appear to be none present whatsoever.
In large, more muscular and hardier bodies, as of
countrymen, they are numerous ; in more slender
frames and in females they are fewer.

ioo Motion of the

In those animals in which the ventricles of the heart
are smooth within, and entirely without fibres or
muscular bands, or anything like foveas, as in almost
all the smaller birds, the partridge and the common
fowl, serpents, frogs, tortoises, and also fishes, for the
major part, there are no chordae tendineae, nor bundles
of fibres, neither are there any tricuspid valves in the
ventricles.

Some animals have the right ventricle smooth
internally, but the left provided with fibrous bands,
such as the goose, swan, and larger birds ; and the
reason here is still the same as elsewhere, as the
lungs are spongy, and loose, and soft, no great amount
of force is required to force the blood through them ;
hence the right ventricle is either without the bundles
in question, or they are fewer and weaker, not so fleshy
or like muscles ; those of the left ventricle, however,
are both stronger and more numerous, more fleshy and
muscular, because the left ventricle requires to be
stronger, inasmuch as the blood which it propels has to
be driven through the whole body. And this, too,
is the reason why the left ventricle occupies the middle
of the heart, and has parietes three times thicker and
stronger than those of the right. Hence all animals —
and among men it is not otherwise — that are endowed
with particularly strong frames, and that have large and
fleshy limbs at a great distance from the heart, have
this central organ of greater thickness, strength, and
muscularity. And this is both obvious and necessary.
Those, on the contrary, that are of softer and more
slender make have the heart more flaccid, softer, and
internally either sparely or not at all fibrous. Con-
sider farther the use of the several valves, which are all
so arranged, that the blood once received into the
ventricles of the heart shall never regurgitate, once
forced into the pulmonary artery and aorta shall not
flow hack upon the ventricles. When the valves are
raised and brought together they form a three-cornered

Heart and Blood 101

line, such as is left by the bite of a leech ; and the
more they are forced, the more firmly do they oppose
the passage of the blood. The tricuspid valves are
placed, like gate-keepers, at the entrance into the
ventricles, from the veme cava? and pulmonary veins ;
lest the blood when most forcibly impelled should flow
back ; and it is for this reason that they are not found
in all animals ; neither do they appear to have been
constructed with equal care in all the animals in which
they are found ; in some they are more accurately
fitted, in others more remissly or carelessly contrived,
and always with a view to their being closed under
a greater or a slighter force of the ventricle. In the
left ventricle, therefore, and in order that the occlusion
may be the more perfect against the greater impulse,
there are only two valves, like a mitre, and produced
into an elongated cone, so that they come together and
touch to their middle ; a circumstance which perhaps
led Aristotle into the error of supposing this ventricle
to be double, the division taking place transversely.
For the same reason, indeed, and that the blood may
not regurgitate upon the pulmonary veins, and thus the
force of the ventricle in propelling the blood through
the system at large come to be neutralized, it is that
these mitral valves excel those of the right ventricle in
size and strength, and exactness of closing. Hence,
too, it is essential that there can be no heart without a
ventricle, since this must be the source and storehouse
of the blood. The same law does not hold good in
reference to the brain. For almost no genus of birds
has a ventricle in the brain, as is obvious in the goose
and swan, the brains of which nearly equal that of
a rabbit in size ; now rabbits have ventricles in the
brain, whilst the goose has none. In like manner,
wherever the heart has a single ventricle, there is an
auricle appended, flaccid, membranous, hollow, filled
with blood ; and where there are two ventricles, there
are likewise two auricles. On the other hand, however,

102 Motion of the

some animals have an auricle without any ventricle ; or
at all events they have a sac analogous to an auricle ;
or the vein itself, dilated at a particular part, performs
pulsations, as is seen in hornets, bees, and other insects,
which certain experiments of my own enable me to
demonstrate have not only a pulse, but a respiration in
that part which is called the tail, whence it is that this
part is elongated and contracted now more rarely, now
more frequently, as the creature appears to be blown
and to require a larger quantity of air. But of these
things, more in our Treatise on Respiration.

It is in like manner evident that the auricles pulsate,
contract, as I have said before, and throw the blood
into the ventricles ; so that wherever there is a ventricle
an auricle is necessary, not merely that it may serve,
according to the general belief, as a source and maga-
zine for the blood : for what were the use of its
pulsations had it nothing to do save to contain ? No ;
the auricles are prime movers of the blood, especially
the right auricle, which is " the first to live, the last to
die," as already said ; whence they are subservient to
sending the blood into the ventricle, which, contracting
incontinently, more readily and forcibly expels the
blood already in motion ; just as the ball-player carr"
strike the ball more forcibly and further if he takes it
on the rebound than if he simply threw it. Moreover,
and contrary to the general opinion, since neither the
heart nor anything else can dilate or distend itself so as
to draw aught into its cavity during the diastole, unless
like a sponge, it has been first compressed, and as it is
returning to its primary condition ; but in animals all
local motion proceeds from, and has its original in the
contraction of some part : it is consequently by the
contraction of the auricles that the blood is thrown
into the ventricles, as I have already shown, and from
thence, by the contraction of the ventricles, it is pro-
pelled and distributed. Which truth concerning local
motions, and how the immediate moving organ in

Heart and Rlood 103

I v ry motion of an animal primarily endowed with
a motive spirit (as Aristotle has it, 1 ) is contractile ; and
in what way the word Kcypov is derived from vivm, nutn,
contraho ; and how Aristotle was acquainted with the
muscles, and did not unadvisedly refer all motion in
animals to the nerves, or to the contractile element,
and therefore called those little bands in the heart
nerves — all this, if I am permitted to proceed in my
purpose of making a particular demonstration of the
organs of motion in animals from observations in my
possession, I trust I shall be able to make sufficiently
j'lain.

But that we may go on with the subject we have in
hand, viz. the use of the auricles in filling the ventricles :
we should expect that the more dense and compact the
heart, the thicker its parietes, the stronger and more
muscular must be the auricle to force and fill it, and
vice versa. Now this is actually so : in some the auricle
presents itself as a sanguinolent vesicle, as a thin mem-
brane containing blood, as in fishes, in which the sac
that stands in lieu of the auricle, is of such delicacy
and ample capacity, that it seems to be suspended or
to float above the heart ; in those fishes in which the
sac is somewhat more fleshy, as in the carp, barbel,
tench, and others, it bears a wonderful and strong
mblance to the lungs.

In some men of sturdier frame and stouter make,
the right auricle is so strong, and so curiously con-
structed within of bands and variously interlacing fibres,
that it seems to equal the ventricle of the heart in
other subjects; and I must say that I am astonished to
find such diversity in this particular in different in-
dividuals. It is to be observed, however, that in the
foetus the auricles are out of all proportion large, which
is because they are present before the heart [the
ventricular portion] makes its appearance or suffices for
its office even when it has appeared, and they therefore

1 In the book, de Spiritu, and elsewhere.

104 Motion of the

have, as it were, the duty of the whole heart committed
to them, as has already been demonstrated. But what
I have observed in the formation of the fcetus as
before remarked (and Aristotle had already confirmed
all in studying the incubated egg,) throws the greatest
light and likelihood upon the point. Whilst the fcetus
is yet in the guise of a soft worm, or, as is commonly
said, in the milk, there is a mere bloody point or
pulsating vesicle, a portion apparently of the umbilical
vein, dilated at its commencement or base ; by and by,
when the outline of the fcetus is distinctly indicated,
and it begins to have greater bodily consistence, the
vesicle in question having become more fleshy and
stronger, and changed its position, passes into the
auricles, over or upon which the body of the heart
begins to sprout, though as yet it apparently performs
no duty ; but when the fcetus is farther advanced, when
the bones can be distinguished from the soft parts, and
movements take place, then it has also a heart inter-
nately which pulsates, and, as I have said, throws
blood by either ventricle from the vena cava into the
arteries.
"*> Thus nature, ever perfect and divine, doing nothing
in vain, has neither given a heart where it was not
required, nor produced it before its office had become
necessary ; but by the same stages in the development
of every animal, passing through the constitutions of
all, as I may say (ovum, worm, fcetus), it acquires
perfection in each. These points will be found else-
where confirmed by numerous observations on the
formation of the fcetus.

Finally, it was not without good grounds that Hippo-
crates, in his book, " De Corde," intitles it a muscle ; as
its action is the same, so is its function, viz. to con-
tract and move something else, in this case, the charge
of blood.

Farther, as in muscles at large, so can we infer the
action and use of the heart from the arrangement of its

Heart and Blood 105

fibres and its general structure. All anatomists admit
with Galen that the body of the heart is made up of
various courses of fibres running straight, obliquely,
and transversely, with reference to one another; but
in a heart which has been boiled the arrangement of
the til ires is seen to be different : all the fibres in the
parietes and septum are circular, as in the sphincters ;
those, again, which are in the columnar extend length-
wise, and are oblique longitudinally; and so it comes
to pass, that when all the fibres contract simultaneously,
the apex of the cone is pulled towards its base by the
columnar, the walls are drawn circularly together into a
globe, the whole heart in short is contracted, and the
ventricles narrowed ; it is therefore impossible not to
perceive that, as the action of the organ is so plainly
contraction, its function is to propel the blood into the
arteries.

Nor are we the less to agree with Aristotle in regard
to the sovereignty of the heart , nor are we to inquire
whether it receives sense and motion from the brain ?
whether blood from the liver ? whether it be the origin
of the veins and of the blood? and more of the same
description. They who affirm these propositions against
Aristotle, overlook, or do not rightly understand the
principal argument, to the effect that the heart is the
first part which exists, and that it contains within itself
blood, life, sensation, motion, before either the brain
or the liver were in being, or had appeared distinctly,
or, at all events, before they could perform any function.
The heart, ready furnished with its proper organs of
motion, like a kind of internal creature, is of a date
anterior to the body : first formed, nature willed that it
should afterwards fashion, nourish, preserve, complete
the entire animal, as its work and dwelling place : the
heart, like the prince in a kingdom, in whose hands lie
the chief and highest authority, rules over all ; it is the
original and foundation from which all power is derived,
on which all power depends in the animal body.

io6 Motion of the

And many things having reference to the arteries
farther illustrate and confirm this truth. Why does
not the arteria venosa pulsate, seeing that it is num-
bered among the arteries ? Or wherefore is there a
pulse in the vena arteriosa ? Because the pulse of the
arteries is derived from the impulse of the blood.
Why does an artery differ so much from a vein in
the thickness and strength of its coats ? Because it
sustains the shock of the impelling heart and streaming
blood. Hence, as perfect nature does nothing in vain,
and suffices under all circumstances, we find that the
nearer the arteries are to the heart, the more do they
differ from the veins in structure ; here they are both
stronger and more ligamentous, whilst in extreme parts
of the body, such as the feet and hands, the brain, the
mesentery, and the testicles, the two orders of vessels
are so much alike that it is impossible to distinguish
between them with the eye. Now this is for the
following very sufficient reasons : for the more remote
vessels are from the heart, with so much the less force
are they impinged upon by the stroke of the heart,
which is broken by the great distance at which it is
given. Add to this, that the impulse of the heart
exerted upon the mass of blood, which must needs
fill the trunks and branches of the arteries, is diverted,
divided, as it were, and diminished at every sub-
division ; so that the ultimate capillary divisions of
the arteries look like veins, and this not merely in
constitution but in function ; for they have either no
perceptible pulse, or they rarely exhibit one, and never
save where the heart beats more violently than wont,
or at a part where the minute vessel is more dilated or
open than elsewhere. Hence it happens that at times
we are aware of a pulse in the teeth, in inflammatory
tumours, and in the fingers ; at another time we feel
nothing of the sort. Hence, too, by this single symptom
I have ascertained for certain that young persons,
whose pulses are naturally rapid, were labouring under

Heart and Blood 107

fever ; in like manner, on compressing the fingers in
youthful and delicate subjects during a feeble paroxysm,
I have readily perceived the pulse there. On the other
hand, when the heart pulsates more languidly, it is
often impossible to feel the pulse not merely in the
fingers, but at the wrist, and even at the temple ; this
is the case in persons afflicted with lipothymiae and
asphyxia, and hysterical symptoms, as also in persons
of very weak constitution and in the moribund.

And here surgeons are to be advised that, when the
blood escapes with force in the amputation of limbs, in
the removal of tumours, and in wounds, it constantly
comes from an artery ; not always per saltum, however,
rose the smaller arteries do not pulsate, especially
if a tourniquet has been applied.

And then the reason is the same wherefore the
pulmonary artery has not only the structure of an
artery, but wherefore it does not differ so widely in
the thickness of its tunics from the veins as the aorta :
the aorta sustains a more powerful shock from the left
ventricle than the pulmonary artery does from the
right ; and the tunics of this last vessel are thinner
and softer than those of the aorta in the same pro-
portion as the walls of the right ventricle of the heart
are weaker and thinner than those of the left ventricle ;
and in like manner, in the same degree in which the
lungs are softer and iaxer in structure than the flesh
and other constituents of the body at large, do the
tunics of the branches of the pulmonary artery differ
from the tunics of the vessels derived from the aorta.
And the same proportion in these several particulars
is universally preserved. The more muscular and
powerful men are, the firmer their flesh, the stronger,
thicker, denser, and more fibrous their heart, in the
same proportion are the auricles and arteries in all
respects thicker, closer, and stronger. And again, and
on the other hand, in those animals the ventricles of
whose heart are smooth within, without villi or valves,

108 Motion of the Heart and Blood

and the walls of which are thinner, as in fishes,
serpents, birds, and very many genera of animals, in
all of them the arteries differ little or nothing in the
thickness of their coats from the veins.

Farther, the reason why the lungs have such ample
vessels, both arteries and veins, (for the capacity of the
pulmonary veins exceeds that of both the crural and
jugular vessels,) and why they contain so large a
quantity of blood, as by experience and ocular in-
spection we know they do, admonished of the fact
indeed by Aristotle, and not led into error by the
appearances found in animals which have been bled
to death, — is, because the blood has its fountain, and
storehouse, and the workshop of its last perfection in
the heart and lungs. Why, in the same way we find in
the course of our anatomical dissections the arteria
venosa and left ventricle so full of blood, of the same
black colour and clotted character, too, as that with
which the right ventricle and pulmonary artery are filled,
inasmuch as the blood is incessantly passing from one
side of the heart to the other through the lungs.
Wherefore, in fine, the pulmonary artery or vena
arteriosa has the constitution of an artery, and the
pulmonary veins or arterise venosse have the structure
of veins ; because, in sooth, in function and constitu-
tion, and everything else, the first is an artery, the
others are veins, in opposition to what is commonly
believed ; and why the pulmonary artery has so large
an orifice, because it transports much more blood than
is requisite for the nutrition of the lungs.

All these appearances, and many others, to be noted
in the course of dissection, if rightly weighed, seem
clearly to illustrate and fully to confirm the truth con-
tended for throughout these pages, and at the same
time to stand in opposition to the vulgar opinion ; for
it would be very difficult to explain in any other way to
what purpose all is constructed and arranged as we
have seen it to be.

AN ANATOMICAL DISQUISITION

ON THE

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD

TO

JOHN RIOLAN, Jun., OF Paris

A MOST SKILFUL PHYSICIAN J THE CORYPHAEUS OF ANATOMISTS

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND BOTANY IN THE

UNIVERSITY OF PARIS; DEAN OF THE SAME UNIVERSITY

AND FIRST PHYSICIAN TO THE QUEEN

MOTHER OF LOUIS XIII.

BY WILLIAM HARVEY, AN ENGLISHMAN

PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND SURGERY IN THE ROYAL COI
OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON; AND PRINCIPAL PHYSICIAN TO
His MOST SERENE MAJESTY THE KING.

Cambridge, 1649.

109

THE FIRST ANATOMICAL DISQUISI-
TION ON THE CIRCULATION OF
THE BLOOD, ADDRESSED TO JO.
RIOLAN

Some few months ago there appeared a small
anatomical and pathological work from the pen of the
celebrated Riolanus, for which, as sent to me by the
author himself, I return him my grateful thanks. 1 I
also congratulate this author on the highly laudable
undertaking in which he has engaged. To demonstrate
the seats of all diseases is a task that can only be
achieved under favour of the highest abilities ; for
surely he enters on a difficult province who proposes
to bring under the cognizance of the eyes those
diseases which almost escape the keenest understand-
ing. But such efforts become the prince of anatomists ;
for there is no science which does not spring from
preexisting knowledge, and no certain and definite idea
which has not derived its origin from the senses.
Induced therefore by the subject itself, and the example
of so distinguished an individual, which makes me
think lightly of the labour, I also intend putting to
press my Medical Anatomy, or Anatomy in its Appli-
cation to Medicine. Not with the purpose, like
Riolanus, of indicating the seats of diseases from the
bodies of healthy subjects, and discussing the several
diseases that make their appearance there, according
to the views which others have entertained of them ;
but that I may relate from the many dissections I have

1 Enchiridium Anatomicum et Pathologicum. i2ino, Parisiis, 1648.

Ill

ii2 Circulation of the Blood

made of the bodies of persons diseased, worn out by
serious and strange affections, how and in what way
the internal organs were changed in their situation,
size, structure, figure, consistency, and other sensible
qualities, from their natural forms and appearances,
such as they are usually described by anatomists; and
in what various and remarkable ways they were affected.
For even as the dissection of healthy and well-con-
stituted bodies contributes essentially to the advance-
ment of philosophy and sound physiology, so does the
inspection of diseased and cachectic subjects power-
fully assist philosophical pathology. And, indeed, the
physiological consideration of the things which are
according to nature is to be first undertaken by medical
men ; since that which is in conformity with nature
is right, and serves as a rule both to itself and to that
which is amiss ; by the light it sheds, too, aberrations
and affections against nature are defined ; pathoiogy
then stands out more clearly ; and from pathology the
use and art of healing, as well as occasions for the
discovery of many new remedies, are perceived. Nor
could any one readily imagine how extensively internal
organs are altered in diseases, especially chronic dis-
eases, and what monstrosities among internal parts
these diseases engender. So that I venture to say,
that the examination of a single body of one who has
died of tabes or some other disease of long standing,
or poisonous nature, is of more service to medicine
than the dissection of the bodies of ten men who have
been hanged.

I would not have it supposed by this that I in any
way disapprove of the purpose of Riolanus, that learned
and skilful anatomist; on the contrary, I think it
deserving of the highest praise, as likely to be ex-
tremely useful to medicine, inasmuch as it illustrates
the physiological branch of this science ; but I have
thought that it would scarcely turn out less profitable
to the art of healing, did I place before the eyes of

Circulation of the Blood 113

my readers not only the places, but the affections of
these places, illustrating them as I proceed with obser-
vations, and recording the results of my experience
derived from my numerous dissections.

Rut it is imperative on me first to dispose of those
observations contained in the work referred to, which
beat upon the circulation of the blood as discovered
by me, and which seem to require especial notice at
my hands. For the judgment of such a man, who is
indeed the prince and leader of all the anatomists of
the present age, in such a matter, is not to be lightly
esteemed, but is rather to be held of greater weight
and authority, either for praise or blame, than the
commendations or censure of all the world besides.

Riolanus, then, admits our motion of the blood in
animals, 1 and falls in with our conclusions in regard
to the circulation ; yet not entirely and avowedly ; for
he says 2 that the blood contained in the vena portre
does not circulate like that in the vena cava; and
again he states 3 that there is some blood which cir-
culates, and that the circulatory vessels are the aorta
and vena cava; but then he denies that the continua-
tions of these trunks have any circulation, " because
the blood is effused into all the parts of the second
and third regions, where it remains for purposes of
nutrition ; nor does it return to any greater vessels,
unless forcibly drawn back when there is a great lack
of blood in the main channels, or driven by a fit of
passion when it flows to the greater circulatory vessels ; "
and shortly afterwards : " thus, as the blood of the
veins naturally ascends incessantly or returns to the
heart, so the blood of the arteries descends or departs
from the heart ; still, if the smaller veins of the arms
and legs be empty, the blood filling the empty channels
in succession, may descend in the veins, as I have

1 Enchiridion, lib. iii, cap. 8.

* lb. lib. ii, cap 21.

• lb. lib. iii, cap. 8.

K 262

ii4 Circulation of the Blood

clearly shown," he says, "against Harvey and Walaeus."
And as the authority of Galen and daily experience
confirm the anastomoses of the arteries and veins, and
the necessity of the circulation of the blood, " you
perceive." he continues, " how the circulation is effected,
without any perturbation or confusion of fluids and the
destruction of the ancient system of medicine."

These words explain the motives by which this
illustrious anatomist was actuated when he was led
partly to admit, partly to deny the circulation of the
blood; and why he only ventures on an undecided
and inconclusive opinion of the subject ; his fear is
lest it destroy the ancient medicine. Not yielding
implicitly to the truth, which it appears he could not
help seeing, but rather guided by caution, he fears
speaking plainly out, lest he offend the ancient physic,
or perhaps seem to retract the physiological doctrines
he supports in his Anthropology. The circulation of
the blood does not shake, but much rather confirms
the ancient medicine ; though it runs counter to the
physiology of physicians, and their speculations upon
natural subjects, and opposes the anatomical doctrine
of the use and action of the heart and lungs, and rest
of the viscera. That this is so shall readily be made
to appear, both from his own words and avowal, and
partly also from what I shall supply ; viz. that the
whole of the blood, wherever it be in the living body,
moves and changes its place, not merely that which is
in the larger vessels and their continuations, but that
also which is in their minute subdivisions, and which
is contained in the pores or interstices of every part ;
that it flows from and back to the heart ceaselessly
and without pause, and could not pause for ever so
short a time without detriment, although I admit that
occasionally, and in some places, its motion is quicker
or slower. 1

In the first place, then, our learned anatomist only

1 Vide Chapter III.

Circulation of the Blood 1 1

3

denies that the contents of the branches in continuation
of the vena portae circulate ; but he could neither
oppose nor deny this, did he not conceal from himself
the force of his own arguments ; for he says in his
Third Book, chap, viii., "If the heart at each pulsa-
tion admits a drop of blood which it throws into the
aorta, and in the course of an hour makes two thousand
beats, it is a necessary consequence that the quantity
of blood transmitted must be great." He is farther
forced to admit as much in reference to the mesentery,
when he sees that far more than single drops of blood
are sent into the coeliac and mesenteric arteries at
each pulsation ; so that there must either be some
outlet for the fluid, of magnitude commensurate with
its quantity, or the branches of the vena portae must
give way. Nor can the explanation that is had recourse
to with a view of meeting the difficulty, viz. that the
blood of the mesentery ebbs and flows by the same
channels, after the manner of Euripus, be received as
either probable or possible. Neither can the reflux
from the mesentery be effected by those passages and
that system of translation, by which he will have it to
disgorge itself into the aorta; this were against the
force of the existing current, and by a contrary motion ;
nor can anything like pause or alternation be admitted,
where there is very certainly an incessant influx : the
blood sent into the mesentery must as inevitably go
elsewhere as that which is poured into the heart. And
this is obvious ; were it otherwise, indeed, everything
like a circulation might be overturned upon the same
showing and by the same subterfuge ; it might just as
well be said that the blood contained in the left
ventricle of the heart is propelled into the aorta during
the systole, and flows back to it during the diastole,
the aorta disgorging itself into the ventricle, precisely
as the ventricle has disgorged itself into the aorta.
There would thus be circulation neither in the heart
nor in the mesentery, but an alternate flux and reflux, —

n6 Circulation of the Blood

a useless labour, as it seems. If, therefore, and for the
reason assigned and approved by him, a circulation
through the heart be argued for as a thing necessary,
the argument has precisely the same force when applied
to the mesentery : if there be no circulation in the
mesentery, neither is there any in the heart ; for both
affirmations, this in reference to the heart, that in
reference to the mesentery, merely changing the words,
stand or fall together, by force of the very same
arguments.

He says : "The sigmoid valves prevent regurgitation
into the heart ; but there are no valves in the mesentery."
To this I reply, that the thing is not so ; for there is a
valve in the splenic vein, and sometimes also in other
veins. And besides, valves are not met with universally
in veins ; there are few or none in the deep-seated
veins of the extremities, but many in the subcutaneous
branches. For where the blood is flowing naturally
from smaller into greater branches, into which it is
disposed to enter, the pressure of the circumjacent
muscles is enough, and more than enough to prevent
all retrograde movement, and it is forced on where the
way lies open ; in such circumstances, what use were
there for valves ? But the quantity of blood that is
forced into the mesentery by each stroke of the heart,
may be estimated in the same way as you estimate the
quantity impelled into the hand when you bind a
ligature with medium tightness about the wrist : if in so
many beats the vessels of the hand become distended,
and the whole extremity swells, you will find, that much
more than a single drop of blood has entered with each
pulse, and which cannot return, but must remain to fill
the hand and increase its size. But analogy permits
us to say, that the same thing takes place in reference
to the mesentery and its vessels, in an equal degree at
least, if not in a greater degree, seeing that the vessels
of the mesentery are considerably larger than those of
the carpus. And if any one will but think on the

Circulation of the Blood 117

difficulty that is experienced with all the aid supplied
by compresses, bandages, and a multiplied apparatus,
in restraining the flow of blood from the smallest
artery when wounded, with what force it overcomes all
obstacles and soaks through the whole apparatus, he
will scarcely, I imagine, think it likely that there can
be any retrograde motion against such an impulse and
influx of blood, any retrograde force to meet and over-
come a direct force of such power. Turning over these
things in his mind, I say, no one will ever be brought
to believe that the blood from the branches of the
vena porta; can possibly make its way by the same-
channels against an influx by the artery of such
impetuosity and force, and so unload the mesentery.

Moreover, if the learned anatomist does not think
that the blood is moved and changed by a circular
motion, but that the same fluid always stagnates in the
channels of the mesentery, he appears to suppose that
there are two descriptions of blood, serving different
uses and ends ; that the blood of the vena portae, and
that of the vena cava are dissimilar in constitution,
seeing that the one requires a circulation for its
preservation, the other requires nothing of the kind ;
which neither appears on the face of the thing, nor is its
truth demonstrated by him. Our author then refers
to " A fourth order of mesenteric vessels, the lacteal
vessels, discovered by Asellius," x and having mentioned
these, he seems to infer that they extract all the
nutriment from the intestines, and transfer this to the
liver, the workshop of the blood, whence, having been
concocted and changed into blood, (so he says in his
third book, chapter the 8th), the blood is transferred
from the liver to the right ventricle of the heart.
" Which things premised," he continues, 2 " all the
difficulties which were formerly experienced in regard
to the distribution of the chyle and blood by the same
channel come to an end; for the lacteal veins cany

1 Enchiridion, lib. ii, cap. 18. * Ibid.

n8 Circulation of the Blood

the chyle to the liver, and as these canals are distinct,
so may they be severally obstructed." But truly I
would here ask : how this milky fluid can be poured
into and pass through the liver, and how from thence
gain the vena cava and the ventricle of the heart
when our author denies that the blood of the vena
porta? passes through the liver, and that so a circulation
is established ? I pause for a reply. I would fain
know how such a thing can be shown to be probable ;
especially when the blood appears to be both more
spirituous or subtile and penetrating than the chyle or
milk contained in these lacteal vessels, and is further
impelled by the pulsations of the arteries that it may
find a passage by other channels.

Our learned author mentions a certain tract of his
on the Circulation of the Blood : I wish I could
obtain a sight of it ; perhaps I might retract. But had
the learned writer been so disposed, I do not see but
that having admitted the circular motion of the blood, 1
all the difficulties which were formerly felt in connexion
with the distribution of the chyle and the blood by the
same channels are brought to an equally satisfactory
solution ; so much so indeed that there would be no
necessity for inquiring after or laying down any separate
vessels for the chyle. Even as the umbilical veins
absorb the nutritive juices from the fluids of the egg
and transport them for the nutrition and growth of the
chick, in its embryo state, so do the meseraic veins
suck up the chyle from the intestines and transfer it to
the liver ; and why should we not maintain that they
perform the same office in the adult ? For all the
mooted difficulties vanish when we cease to suppose
two contrary motions in the same vessels, and admit
but one and the same continuous motion in the
mesenteric vessels from the intestines to the liver.

1 Enchiridion, lib. iii, cap. 8 : " The blood incessantly and naturally
ascends or flows back to the heart in the veins, as jn the ^ arteries it
descends or departs from the heart."

Circulation of the Blood jiq

I shall elsewhere state my views of the lacteal veins
when I treat of the milk found in different parts of
new-born animals, especially of the human subject j
for it is met with in the mesentery and all its gland .
in the thymus, in the axillae, also in the breasts of
infants. This milk the midwifes are in the habit of
pressing out, for the health, as they believe, of the
infants. But it has pleased the learned Riolanus, not
only to take away circulation from the blood contained
in the mesentery ; he affirms that neither do the vessels
in continuation of the vena cava, nor the arteries, nor
any of the parts of the second and third regions, admit
of circulation, so that he entitles and enumerates as
circulating vessels the vena cava and aorta only. For
this he appears to me to give a very indifferent reason : l
" The blood," he says, " effused into all the parts of the
second and third regions, remains there for their
nutrition ; nor does it return to the great vessels, unless
forcibly drawn back by an extreme dearth of blood in
the great vessels, nor, unless carried by an impulse,
does it flow to the circulatory vessels."

That so much of the blood must remain as is
appropriated to the nutrition of the tissues, is matter
of necessity ; for it cannot nourish unless it be
assimilated and become coherent, and form substance
in lieu of that which is lost ; but that the whole of the
blood which flows into a part should there remain, in
order that so small a portion should undergo transforma-
tion, is nowise necessary ; for no part uses so much blood
for its nutrition as is contained in its arteries, veins,
and interstices. Nor because the blood is continually
coming and going is it necessary to suppose that it
leaves nothing for nutriment behind it. Consequently
it is by no means necessary that the whole remain in
order that nutrition be effected. But our learned
author, in the same book, where he affirms so much,
appears almost everywhere else to assert the contrary.

1 Enchirid. lib. iii, cap 8.

120 Circulation of the Blood

In that paragraph especially where he describes the
circulation in the brain, he says : " And the brain by
means of the circulation sends back blood to the heart,
and thus refrigerates the organ." And in the same
way are all the more remote parts said to refrigerate
the heart ; thus in fevers, when the praecordia are
scorched and burn with febrile heat, patients baring
their limbs and casting off the bedclothes, seek to cool
their heart; and the blood generally, tempered and
cooled down, as our learned author states it to be with
reference to the brain in particular, returns by the
veins and refrigerates the heart. Our author, therefore,
appears to insinuate a certain necessity for a circulation
from every part, as well as from the brain, in opposition
to what he had before said in very precise terms. But
then he cautiously and ambiguously asserts, that the
blood does not return from the parts composing the
second and third regions, unless, as he says, it is drawn
by force, and through a signal deficiency of blood in
the larger vessels, &c, which is most true if these
words be rightly understood ; for by the larger vessels,
in which the deficiency is said to cause the reflux, I
think he must be held to mean the veins not the
arteries ; for the arteries are never emptied, save into
the veins or interstices of parts, but are incessantly
filled by the strokes of the heart ; but in the vena cava
and other returning channels, in which the blood glides
rapidly on, hastening to the heart, there would speedily
be a great deficiency of blood did not every part
incessantly restore the blood that is incessantly poured
into it. Add to this, that by the impulse of the
blood which is forced with each stroke into every
part of the second and third regions, that which is
contained in the pores or interstices is urged into the
smaller veins, from which it passes into larger vessels,
its motion assisted besides by the motion and pressure
of circumjacent parts ; for from every containing thing
compressed and constringed, contained matters are

Circulation of the Blood 121

forced out. And thus it is that by the motions of the
muscles and extremities, the blood contained in the
minor vessels is forced onwards and delivered into
the larger trunks. But that the blood is incessantly driven
from the arteries into every part of the body, there gives
a pulse and never flows back in these channels, cannot
be doubted, if it be admitted that with each pulse of
the heart all the arteries are simultaneously distended
by the blood sent into them ; and as our learned
author himself allows that the diastole of the arteries is
usioned by the systole of the heart, and that the
blood once out of the heart can never get back into
the ventricles by reason of the opposing valves ; if I
say, our learned author believes that these things are
so, it will be as manifestly true with regard to the force
and impulse by which the blood contained in the
vessels is propelled into every part of every region of
the body. For wheresoever the arteries pulsate, so far
must the impulse and influx extend, and therefore is the
impulse felt in every part of each several region ; for
there is a pulse everywhere, to the very points of the
fingers and under the nails, nor is there any part of
the body where the shooting pain that accompanies
each pulse of the artery, and the effort made to effect
a solution of the continuity is not experienced when it
is the seat of a phlegmon or furuncle.

But, further, that the blood contained in the pores of
the living tissues returns to the heart, is manifest from
what we observe in the hands and feet. For we
frequently see the hands and feet, in young persons
especially, during severe weather, become so cold that
to the touch they feel like ice, and they are so be-
numbed and stiffened that they seem scarcely to retain
a trace of sensibility or to be capable of any motion ;
still are they all the while surcharged with blood, and
look red or livid. Yet can the extremities be warmed
in no way, save by circulation ; the chilled blood, which
has lost its spirit and heat, being driven out, and fresh,

122 Circulation of the Blood

warm, and vivified blood flowing in by the arteries in
its stead, which fresh blood cherishes and warms the
parts, and restores to them sense and motion ; nor
could the extremities be restored by the warmth of a
fire or other external heat, any more than those of
a dead body could be so recovered : they are only
brought to life again, as it were, by an influx of internal
warmth. And this indeed is the principal use and end
of the circulation ; it is that for which the blood is sent
on its ceaseless course, and to exert its influence con-
tinually in its circuit, to wit, that all parts dependent
on the primary innate heat may be retained alive, in
their state of vital and vegetative being, and apt to
perform their functions ; whilst, to use the language of
physiologists, they are sustained and actuated by the
inflowing heat and vital spirits. Thus, by the aid of
two extremes, viz. cold and heat, is the temperature of
the animal body retained at its mean. For as the air
inspired tempers the too great heat of the blood in the
lungs and centre of the body, and effects the expulsion
of suffocating fumes, so in its turn does the hot blood,
thrown by the arteries into all parts of the body, cherish
and nourish and keep them in life, defending them
from extinction through the power of external cold.

It would, therefore, be in some sort unfair and extra-
ordinary did not every particle composing the body
enjoy the advantages of the circulation and transmuta-
tion of the blood ; the ends for which the circulation
was mainly established by nature would no longer be
effected. To conclude then : you see how circulation
may be accomplished without confusion or admixture
of humours, through the whole body, and each of its
individual parts, in the smaller as well as in the larger
vessels ; and all as matter of necessity and for the
general advantage ; without circulation, indeed, there
would be no restoration of chilled and exhausted parts,
no continuance of these in life ; since it is apparent
enough that the whole influence of the preservative

Circulation d\ the Mood 123

heat comes by the arteries, and is the work of the
ilation.

It, therefore, appears to me that the learned Riolanus
sp aks rather expediently than truly, when in his
Enchiridion he denies a circulation to certain parts ; it
would seem as though he had wished to please the
mass, and oppose none ; to have written with such a
bias rather than rigidly and in behalf of the simple
truth. This is also apparent when he would have the
blood to make its way into the left ventricle through
the septum of the heart, by certain invisible and un-
known passages, rather than through those ample and
abundantly pervious channels, the pulmonary vessels,
furnished with valves, opposing all reflux or regurgita-
tion. He informs us that he has elsewhere discussed
the reasons of the impossibility or inconvenience of
this : I much desire to see his disquisition. It would
be extraordinary, indeed, were the aorta and pulmonary
artery, with the same dimensions, properties, and
structure, not to have the same functions. But it would
be more wonderful still were the whole tide of the blood
to reach the left ventricle by a set of inscrutable passages
of the septum, a tide which, in quantity, must corres-
pond, first to the influx from the vena cava into the
right side of the heart, and next to the efflux from the
left, both of which require, such ample conduits. But
our author has adduced these matters inconsistently,
for he has established the lungs as an emunctory or
passage from the heart ; x and he says : " The lung is
affected by the blood which passes through it, the
sordes flowing along with the blood." And, again :
"The lungs receive injury from distempered and ill-
conditioned viscera ; these deliver an impure blood to
the heart, which it cannot correct except by multiplied
circulations." In the same place, he further proceeds,
whilst speaking against Galen of blood-letting in peri-
pneumonia and the communication of the veins :

' Lib. iii, cap. 6.

124 Circulation of the Blood

Were it true that the blood naturally passed from the
right ventricle of the heart to the lungs, that it might
be carried into the left ventricle and from thence into
the aorta; and were the circulation of the blood
admitted, who does not see that in affections of the
lungs the blood would flow to them in larger quantity
and would oppress them, unless it were taken away,
first, freely, and then in repeated smaller quantities in
order to relieve them, which indeed was the advice of
Hippocrates, who, in affections of the lungs takes away
blood from every part — the head, nose, tongue, arms
and feet, in order that its quantity may be diminished
and a diversion effected from the lungs ; he takes away
blood till the body is almost bloodless. Now admitting
the circulation, the lungs are most readily depleted by
opening a vein ; but rejecting it, I do not see how any
revulsion of the blood can be accomplished by this
means ; for did it flow back by the pulmonary artery
upon the right ventricle, the sigmoid valves would
oppose its entrance, and any escape from the right
ventricle into the vena cava is prevented by the
tricuspid valves. The blood, therefore, is soon
exhausted when a vein is opened in the arm or foot, if
we admit the circulation ; and the opinion of Fernelius
is at the same time upset by this admission, viz. that in
affections of the lungs it is better to bleed from the
right than the left arm ; because the blood cannot flow
backwards into the vena cava unless the two barriers
situated in the heart be first broken down."

He adds yet further in the same place i 1 "If the
circulation of the blood be admitted, and it be acknow-
ledged that this fluid generally passes through the lungs,
not through the middle partition of the heart, a double
circulation becomes requisite ; one effected through the
lungs, in the course of which the blood quitting the
right ventricle of the heart passes through the lungs in
order that it may arrive at the left ventricle; leaving

1 Lib. iii, cap. 6.

Circulation of the Blood 125

the heart on the one hand, therefore, the blood
speedily returns to it again ; another and longer circula-
tion proceeding from the left ventricle of the heart
performs the circuit of the whole body by the arteries,
and by the veins returns to the right side of the heart."

The learned anatomist might here have added a third
and extremely short circulation, viz. from the left to the
right ventricle of the heart, with that blood which
courses through the coronary arteries and veins, and by
their ramifications is distributed to the body, walls, and
septum of the heart.

" He who admits one circulation," proceeds our
author, " cannot repudiate the other;" and he might,
as it appears, have added, "the third." For why
should the coronary arteries of the heart pulsate, if it
were not to force on the blood by their pulsations ?
and why should there be coronary veins, the end and
office of all veins being to receive the blood brought by
the arteries, were it not to deliver and discharge the
blood sent into the substance of the heart? In this
consideration let it be remembered that a valve is very
commonly found at the orifice of the coronary vein,
as our learned author himself admits, 1 preventing all
ingress, but offering no obstacle to the egress of the
blood. It therefore seems that he cannot do otherwise
than admit this third circulation, who acknowledges a
general circulation through the body, and that the
blood also passes through the lungs and the brain. 2
Nor, indeed, can he deny a similar circulation to every
other part of every other region. The blood flowing
in under the influence of the arterial pulse, and returning
by the veins, every particle of the body has its
circulation.

From the words of our learned writer quoted above,
consequently, his opinion may be gathered both of the
general circulation, and then of the circulation through
the lungs and the several parts of the body ; for he who

1 Lib. iii, cap. 9. * Lib. iv, cap. 2.

126 Circulation of the Blood

admits the first, manifestly cannot refuse to acknow-
ledge the others. How indeed could he who has
repeatedly asserted a circulation through the general
system and the greater vessels, deny a circulation in
the branches continuous with these vessels, or in the
several parts of the second and third regions? as if all
the veins, and those he calls greater circulatory vessels,
were not enumerated by every anatomist, and by him-
self, as being within the second region of the body. Is
it possible that there can be a circulation which is
universal, and which yet does not extend through every
part ? Where he denies it, then, he does so hesitatingly,
and vacillates between negations, giving us mere words.
Where he asserts the circulation, on the contrary, he
speaks out heartily, and gives sufficient reasons, as
becomes a philosopher; and then, when he relies on
this opinion in a particular instance, he delivers himself
like an experienced physician and honest man, and, in
opposition to Galen and his favourite Femelius, advises
blood-letting as the chief remedy in dangerous diseases
of the lungs.

No learned man and Christian, having doubts in such
a cause, would have recommended his experience to
posterity, to the imminent risk, and even loss of human
life ; neither would he, without very sufficient reasons,
have repudiated the authority of Galen and Femelius,
which has usually such weight with him. Whatever he
has denied in the circulation of the blood, therefore,
whether with reference to the mesentery or any other
part, and with an eye to the lacteal veins or the ancient
system of physic, or any other consideration, must be
ascribed to his courtesy and modesty, and is to be
excused.

Thus far, I think, it appears plain enough, from the
very words and arguments of our author, that there is a
circulation everywhere ; that the blood, wherever it is,
changes its place, and by the veins returns to the heart ;
so that our learned author seems to be of the same

Circulation of the Blood 127

opinion as myself. It would therefore be labour in
vain, did I here quote at greater length the various
reasons which I have consigned in my work on th
Motion of the Blood, in confirmation of my opinions,

and which are derived from the structure of the vessels,
the position of the valves, and other matters of ex-
perience and observation ; and this the more, as I have
not yet seen the treatise on the Circulation of the Blood
of the learned writer; nor, indeed, have I yet met with
a single argument of his, or more than his simple
negation, which would lead me to see wherefore he
should reject a circulation which he admits as universal,
in certain parts, regions, and vessels.

It is true that by way of subterfuge he has recourse
to an ana>tomosis of the vessels on the authority of
Galen, and the evidence of daily experience. But so
distinguished a personage, an anatomist so expert,
so inquisitive, and careful, should first have shown
anastomoses between the larger arteries and larger
veins, and these, both obvious and ample, having
mouths in relation with such a torrent as is constituted
by the whole mass of the blood, and larger than the
capacity of the continuous branches, (from which he
takes away all circulation,) before he had rejected
those that are familiarly known, that are more likely
and more open ; he ought to have clearly shown us
where these anastomoses are, and how they are
fashioned, whether they be adapted only to permit
the access of the blood into the veins, and not to allow
of its regurgitation, in the same way as we see the
ureters connected with the urinary bladder, or in what
other manner things are contrived. But — and here I
speak over boldly perhaps — neither our learned author
himself, nor Galen, nor any experience, has ever suc-
ceeded in making such anastomoses as he imagines,
sensible to the eye.

I have myself pursued this subject of the anastomosis
with all the diligence I could command, and have given

128 Circulation of the Blood

not a little both of time and labour to the inquiry ; but
I have never succeeded in tracing any connexion be-
tween arteries and veins by a direct anastomosis of
their orifices. I would gladly learn of those who give
so much to Galen, how they dare swear to what he
says. Neither in the liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, nor
any other viscus, is such a thing as an anastomosis to
be seen ; and by boiling, I have rendered the whole
parenchyma of these organs so friable that it could be
shaken like dust from the fibres, or picked away with a
needle, until I could trace the fibres of every sub-
division, and see every capillary filament distinctly.
I can therefore boldly affirm, that there is neither any
anastomosis of the vena portae with the cava, of the
arteries with the veins, or of the capillary ramifications
of the biliary ducts, which can be traced through the
entire liver, with the veins. This alone may be observed
in the recent liver : all the branches of the vena cava
ramifying through the convexity of the liver, have their
tunics pierced with an infinity of minute holes as is a
sieve, and are fashioned to receive the blood in its
descent. The branches of the porta are not so con-
stituted, but simply spread out in subdivisions ; and the
distribution of these two vessels is such, that whilst
the one runs upon the convexity, the other proceeds
along the concavity of the liver to its outer margin, and
all the while without anastomosing.

In three places only do I find anything that can be
held equivalent to an anastomosis. From the carotids,
as they are creeping over the base of the brain,
numerous interlaced fibres arise, which afterwards form
the choroid plexus, and passing through the lateral
ventricles, finally unite and terminate in the third sinus,
which performs the office of a vein. In the spermatic
vessels, commonly called vasa praeparantia, certain
minute arteries proceeding from the great artery adhere
to the venae praeparantes, which they accompany, and
are at length taken in and included within their coats,

Circulation of the Blood 129

in such a way that they seem to have a common
niding, so that where they terminate on the upper
portion of the testis, on that cone-shaped process called
the corpus varicosum et pampiniforme, it is altogether
uncertain whether we are to regard their terminations
as veins, or as arteries, or as both. In the same way-
are the ultimate ramifications of the arteries which
run to the umbilical vein, lost in the tunics of this
vessel.

What doubt can there be, if by such channels the
great arteries, distended by the stream of blood sent
into them, are relieved of so great and obvious a torrent,
but that nature would not have denied distinct and
visible passages, vortices, and estuaries, had she in-
tended to divert the whole current of the blood, and
had wished in this way to deprive the lesser branches
and the solid parts of all the benefit of the influx of
that fluid ?

Finally, I shall quote this single experiment, which
appears to me sufficient to clear up all doubts about
the anastomoses, and their uses, if any exist, and to set
at rest the question of a passage of the blood from
the veins to the arteries, by any special channels, or by
regurgitation.

Having laid open the thorax of an animal, and tied
the vena cava near the heart, so that nothing shall pass
from that vessel into its cavities, and immediately after-
wards, having divided the carotid arteries on both sides,
the jugular veins being left untouched ; if the arteries
be now perceived to become empty but not the veins,
I think it will be manifest that the blood does nowhere
pass from the veins into the arteries except through the
ventricles of the heart. Were it not so, as observed by
Galen, we should see the veins as well as the arteries
emptied in a very short time, by the efflux from their
corresponding arteries.

For what further remains, oh Riolanus ! I congratu-
late both myself and you : myself, for the opinion with
l 262

130 Circulation of the Blood

which you have graced my Circulation ; and you, for
your learned, polished, and terse production, than which
nothing more elegant can be imagined. For the favour
you have done me in sending me this work, I feel most
grateful, and I would gladly, as in duty bound, proclaim
my sense of its merits, but I confess myself unequal to
the task ; for I know that the Enchiridion bearing the
name of Riolanus inscribed upon it, has thereby more
of honour conferred upon it than it can derive from
any praise of mine, which nevertheless I would yield
without reserve. The famous book will live for ever ;
and when marble shall have mouldered, will proclaim
to posterity the glory that belongs to your name. You
have most happily conjoined anatomy with pathology,
and have greatly enriched the subject with a new and
most useful osteology. Proceed in your worthy career,
most illustrious Riolanus, and love him who wishes
that you may enjoy both happiness and length of days,
and that all your admirable works may conduce to your
eternal fame.

SECOND DISQUISITION TO JOHN RIOLAN, Jun.,

IN WHICH

MANY OBJECTIONS

TO THE

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD

ARE REFUTED.

*3>

A SF.COND DISQUISITION TO JOHN

RIOLAN

It is now many years, most learned Riolanus, since,
with the aid of the press, I published a portion of my
work. But scarce a day, scarce an hour, has passed since
the birth-day of the Circulation of the blood, that I have
not heard something for good or for evil said of this my
discovery. Some abuse it as a feeble infant, and yet
unworthy to have seen the light ; others, again, think
the bantling deserves to be cherished and cared for ;
these oppose it with much ado, those patronize it with
abundant commendation; one party holds that I have
completely demonstrated the circulation of the blood by
experiment, observation, and ocular inspection, against
all force and array of argument ; another thinks it
scarcely yet sufficiently illustrated — not yet cleared of
all objections. There are some, too, who say that I
have shown a vainglorious love of vivisections, and
who scoff at and deride the introduction of frogs and
serpents, flies, and others of the lower animals upon the
scene, as a piece of puerile levity, not even refraining
from opprobrious epithets.

To return evil speaking with evil speaking, however,
I hold to be unworthy in a philosopher and searcher
after truth ; I believe that I shall do better and more
advisedly if I meet so many indications of ill breeding
with the light of faithful and conclusive observation. It
cannot be helped that dogs bark and vomit their foul
stomachs, or that cynics should be numbered among
philosophers ; but care can be taken that they do not

133

134 Circulation of the Blood

bite or inoculate their mad humours, or with their dogs'
teeth gnaw the bones and foundations of truth.

Detractors, mummers, and writers defiled with abuse,
as I resolved with myself never to read them, satisfied
that nothing solid or excellent, nothing but foul terms,
was to be expected from them, so have I held them
still less worthy of an answer. Let them consume on
their own ill nature ; they will scarcely find many well-
disposed readers, I imagine, nor does God give that
which is most excellent and chiefly to be desired —
wisdom, to the wicked; let them go on railing, I say,
until they are weary, if not ashamed.

If for the sake of studying the meaner animals you
should even enter the bakehouse with Heraclitus, as
related in Aristotle, I bid you approach; for neither
are the immortal Gods absent here, and the great and
almighty Father is sometimes most visible in His lesser,
and to the eye least considerable works. 1

In my book on the Motion of the Heart and Blood
in Animals, I have only adduced those facts from
among many other observations, by which either errors
were best refuted, or truth was most strongly supported ;
I have left many proofs, won by dissection and appreci-
able to sense, as redundant and unnecessary ; some of
these, however, I now supply in brief terms, for the
sake-v of the studious, and those who have expressed
their desire to have them.

The authority of Galen is of such weight with all,
that I have seen several hesitate greatly with that experi-
ment before, them, in which the artery is tied upon a
tube placed within its cavity ; and by which it is pro-
posed to prove that the arterial pulse is produced by a
power communicated from the heart through the coats
of the arteries, and not from the shock of the blood
contained within them ; and thence, that the arteries

1 To those who hesitated to visit him in his kiln or bakehouse (in-vw,
which some have said should be imrui, rendered a dunghill) Heraclitus
addressed the words in the text. Aristotle, who quotes them, has been
defending the study of the lower animals.

Circulation of the Blood 135

dilate as bellows, are not filled as sacs. This experi-
ment is spoken of by Vesalius, the celebrated anatomist ;
but neither V esalius nor Galen sayj ^thnr he fori tried
the experim ent^ which, how < . 1 did. Vesalius only
prescribes, and Galen advises it. to those anxious to
discover the truth, and for their better assurance, not
thinking of the difficulties that attend its performance,
nor of its futility when done; for indeed, although
executed with the greatest skill, it supplies noth ing in
support of the opinion which maintains that the coats
of the vessel are the cause of the pulse ; it much rather
proclaims that this, is owing to the impulse of the blood.
For the moment you have thrown your ligature around
the artery upon the reed or tube, immediately, by the
force of the blood thrown in from above, it is dilated
beyond the circle of the tube, by which the flow is
impeded, and the shock is broken ; so that the artery
which is tied only pulsates obscurely, being now cut off
from the full force of the blood that flows through it,
the shock being reverberated, as it were, from that part
of the vessel which is above the ligature ; but if the
artery below the ligature be now divided, the contrary
of what has been maintained will be apparent, from the
spurting of the blood impelled through the tube ; just
as happens in the cases of aneurism, referred to in my
book on the Motion of the Blood, which arise from an
erosion of the coats of the vessel, and when the blood
is contained in a membranous sac, formed not by the
coats of the vessel dilated, but preternaturally produced
from the surrounding tissues and flesh. The arteries
beyond an aneurism of this kind will be felt beating
very feebly, whilst in those above it and in the swelling
itself the pulse will be perceived of great strength and
fulness. And here we cannot imagine that the pulsa-
tion and dilatation take place by the coats of the
arteries, or any power communicated to the walls of the
sac ; they are plainly due to the shock of the blood.
But that the error of Vesalius, and the inexperience

136 Circulation of the Blood

of those who assert their belief that the part below the
tube does not pulsate when the ligature is tied, may be
made the more apparent, I can state, after having made
the trial, that the inferior part will continue to pulsate
if the experiment be properly performed; and whilst
they say that when you have undone the ligature the
inferior arteries begin again to pulsate, I maintain that
the part below beats less forcibly when the ligature is
untied than it did when the thread was still tight. But
the effusion of blood from the wound confuses every-
thing, and renders the whole experiment unsatisfactory
and nugatory, so that nothing certain can be shown,
by reason, as I have said, of the hemorrhage. But if,
as I know by experience, you lay bare an artery, and
control the divided portion by the pressure of your
fingers, you may try many things at pleasure by which
the truth will be made to appear. In the first place,
you will feel the blood coming down in the artery at
each pulsation, and visibly dilating the vessel. You
may also at will suffer the blood to escape, by relaxing
the pressure, and leaving a small outlet ; and you will
see that it jets out with each stroke, with each con-
traction of the heart, and with each dilatation of the
artery, as I have said in speaking of arteriotomy, and
the experiment of perforating the heart. And if you
suffer the efflux to go on uninterruptedly, either from
the simple divided artery or from a tube inserted into
it, you will be able to perceive by the sight, and if you
apply your hand, by the touch likewise, every character
of the stroke of the heart in the jet ; the rhythm, order,
intermission, force, &c, of its pulsations, all becoming
sensible there, no otherwise than would the jets from a
syringe, pushed in succession and with different degrees
of force, received upon the palm of the hand, be obvious
to sight and touch. I have occasionally observed the
jet from a divided carotid artery to be so forcible, that,
when received on the hand, the blood rebounded to
the distance of four or five feet.

Circulation of the Blood 137

But that the question under discussion, viz. that the
pulsific power does not proceed from the heart by the
confs of the vessels, may he set in yet a dearer light,
I beg here to refer to a portion of the descending
aorta, about a span in length, with its division into the
two crural trunks, which I removed from the body of
a nobleman, and which is converted into a bony tube;
by this hollow tube, nevertheless, did the arterial blood
reach the lower extremities of this nobleman during his
life, and cause the arteries in these to beat; and yet
the main trunk was precisely in the same condition as
is the artery in the experiment of Galen, when it is tied
upon a hollow tube; where it was converted into bone-
it could neither dilate nor contract like bellows, nor
transmit the pulsific power from the heart to the
inferi or ve ssels ; it could not convey a force which it
was incapable of receiving through the solid matter of
the bone. In spite of all, however, I well remember to
have frequently noted the pulse in the legs and feet of
this patient whilst he lived, for I was myself his most
attentive physician, and he my very particular friend.
The arteries in the inferior extremities of this nobleman
must therefore and of necessity have been dilated by
the impulse of the blood like flaccid sacs, and not have
expanded in the manner of bellows through the action
of their tunics. It is obvious, that whether an artery
be tied over a hollow tube, or its tunics be converted
into a bony and unyielding canal, the interruption to
the pulsific power in the inferior part of the vessel must
be the same.

I have known another instance in which a portion of
the aorta near the heart was found converted into bone,
in the body of a nobleman, a man of great muscular
strength. The experiment of Galen, therefore, or, at all
events^ a state analogous to it, not effected on purpose
but encountered by accident, makes it sufficiently
to appear, that compression or ligature of the coats of
an artery does not interfere with the pulsative proper-

138 Circulation of the Blood

ties of its derivative branches ; and indeed, if the
experiment which Galen recommends were properly
performed by any one, its results would be found in
opposition to the views which Vesalius believed they
would support.

But we do not therefore deny everything like motion
to the tunics of the arteries ; on the contrary, we allow
them the same motions which we concede to the heart,
viz. a diastole, and a systole or return from the distended
to the natural state; this much we believe to be effected
by a power inherent in the coats themselves. But it is
to be observed, that they are not both dilated and con-
tracted by the same, but by different causes and means ;
as may be observed of the motions of all parts, and of
the ventricle of the heart itself, which is distended by
the auricle, contracted by its own inherent power ;
so, the arteries are dilated by the stroke of the heart,
but they contract or collapse of themselves. 1

You may also perform another experiment at the
same time : if you fill one of two basins of the same size
with blood issuing per saltum from an artery, the other
with venous blood from a vein of the same animal, you
will have an opportunity of perceiving by the eye, both
immediately and by and by, when the blood in either
vessel has become cold, what differences there are
between them. You will find that it is not as they
believe who fancy that there is one kind of blood in
the arteries .and another in the veins, that in the
arteries being of a more florid colour, more frothy,
and imbued with an abundance of I know not what
spirits, effervescing and swelling, and occupying a
greater space, like milk or honey set upon the fire.
For were the blood which is thrown from the left
ventricle of the heart into the arteries, fermented into
any such frothy and flatulent fluid, so that a drop or
two distended the whole cavity of the aorta ; unques-

1 Vide Chapter III. of the Disquisition on the Motion of the Heart
and Blood.

Circulation of the Blood 139

tionably, upon the subsidence of this fermentation, the
blood would return to its original quantity of a few
drops ; (and this, indeed, is the reason that some assign
for the usually empty state of the arteries in the dead
body ;) and so should it be with the arterial blood in
the cup, for so it is with boiling milk and honey when
they come to cool. But if in either basin you find
blood nearly of the same colour, not of very different
consistency in the coagulated state, forcing out serum
in the same manner, and filling the cups to the same
height when cold that it did when hot, this will be
enough for any one to rest his faith upon, and afford
argument enough, I think, for rejecting the dreams that
have been promulgated on the subject. Sense and
reason alike assure us that the blood contained in the
left ventricle is not of a different nature from that in
the right. And then, when we see that the mouth of
the pulmonary artery is of the same size as the aorta,
and in other respects equal to that vessel, it were
imperative on us to affirm that the pulmonary artery
was distended by a single drop of spumous blood, as
well as the aorta, and so that the right as well as the
left side of the heart was filled with a brisk or fermenting
blood.

The particulars which especially dispose men's minds
to admit diversity in the arterial and venous blood are
three in number : one, because in arteriotomy the blood
that flows is of a more florid hue than that which
escapes from a vein ; a second, because in the dis-
section of dead bodies the left ventricle of the heart,
and the arteries in general, are mostly found empty; a
third, because the arterial blood is believed to be more
spirituous, and being replete with spirit is made to
occupy a much larger space. The causes and reasons,
however, wherefore all these things are so, present
themselves to us when we ask after them.

1 st. With reference to the colour it is to be observed,
that wherever the blood issues by a very small orifice,

140 Circulation of the Blood

it is in some measure strained, and the thinner and
lighter part, which usually swims on the top and is the
most penetrating, is emitted. Thus, in phlebotomy,
when the blood escapes forcibly and to a distance, in
a full stream, and from a large orifice, it is thicker, has
more body, and a darker body ; but, if it flows from a
small orifice, and only drop by drop, as it usually does
when the bleeding fillet is untied, it is of a brighter
hue ; for then it is strained as it were, and the thinner
and more penetrating portion only escapes ; in the same
way, in the bleeding from the nose, in that which takes
place from a leech-bite, or from scarifications, or in any
other way by diapedesis or transudation, the bjood is
always seen to have a brighter cast, because the thick-
ness and firmness of the coats of the arteries render
the outlet or outlets smaller, and less disposed to yield
a ready passage to the outpouring blood ; it happens
also that when fat persons arc let blood, the orifice of
the vein is apt to be compressed by the subcutaneous
fat, by which the blood is made to appear thinner, more
florid, and in some sort arterious. On the other hand,
the blood that flows into a basin from a large artery
freely divided, will look venous. The blood in the
lungs is of_a much more florid colour than it is in
the arteries, and we know how it is strained through
the pulmonary tissue.

2d. The emptiness of the arteries in the dead body,
which probably misled Erasistratus in supposing that
they only contained aereal spirits, is caused by this,
that when respiration ceases the lungs collapse, and
then the passages through them are closed ; the heart,
however, continues for a time to contract upon the
blood, whence we find the left auricle more contracted,
and the corresponding ventricle, as well as the arteries
at large, appearing empty, simply because there is no
supply of blood flowing round to fill them. In cases,
however, in which the heart has ceased to pulsate and
the lunys to afford a passage to the blood simul-

Circulation of the Blood 141

tancously, as in those who have died from drowning
01 .syncope, or who die suddenly, you will find the
arteries, as well as the veins, full of blood.

3d. With reference- to the third point, or that of l ! e
spirits, it may be said that, as it is still a question what
they are, how extant in the body, of what consist!
wh< ther separate and distinct from the blood and solids,
or mingled with these, — upon each and all of these
points there are so many and such conflicting opinions,
that it is not wonderful that the spirits, whose nature-
is thus left so wholly ambiguous, should serve as the
common subterfuge of ignorance. Persons of limited
information, when they are at a loss to assign a cause
for anything, very commonly reply that it is done by
the spirits ; and so they bring the spirits into play upon
all occasions ; even as indifferent poets are always
thrusting the gods upon the stage as a means of un-
ravelling the plot, and bringing about the catastrophe.

1'ernelius, and many others, suppose that there are
aereal spirits and invisible substances. Fernelius proves
that there are animal spirits, by saying that the cells
in the brain are apparently unoccupied, and as nature
abhors a vacuum, he concludes that in the living body
they are filled with spirits, just as Erasistratus had held
that, l>ecause the arteries were empty of blood, there-
fore they must be filled with spirits. But Medical
Sc hools admit th ^pp lrinrk nf .spirits. :_ the-jaatural
spirits flowing through the veins, the vital spirits
through the arteries, and the animal spirits through
the nerves ; whence physicians say, out of Galen, that
sometimes the parts of the brain are oppressed by
sympathy, because the faculty with the essence, i.e. the
spirit, is overwhelmed ; and sometimes this happens
independently of the essence. Farther, besides the
three orders of influxive spirits adverted to, a like
number of implanted or stationary spirits seem to be
acknowledged ; but we have found none of all these
spirits by dissection, neither in the veins, nerves,

142 Circulation of the Blood

arteries, nor other parts of living animals. Some
speak of corporeal, others of incorporeal spirits ; and
they who advocate the corporeal spirits will have the
blood, or the thinner portion of the blood, to be the
bond of union with the soul, the spirit being contained
in the blood as the flame is in the smoke of a lamp or
candle, and held admixed by the incessant motion of
the fluid ; others, again, distinguish between the spirits
and the blood. They who advocate incorporeal spirits
have no ground of experience to stand upon ; their
spirits indeed are synonymous with powers or faculties,
such as a concoctive spirit, a chylopoietic spirit, a pro-
creative spirit, &c. — they admit as many spirits, in short,
as there are faculties or organs.

But then the schoolmen speak of a spirit of fortitude,
prudence, patience, and the other virtues, and also of a
most holy spirit of wisdom, and of every divine gift ;
and they besides suppose that there are good and evil
spirits that roam about or possess the body, that assist
or cast obstacles in the way. They hold some diseases
to be owing to a Cacoda?mon or evil spirit, as there
are others that are due to a cacochemy or defective
assimilation.

Although there is nothing more uncertain and
questionable, then, than the doctrine of spirits that
is proposed to us, nevertheless physicians seem for
the major part to conclude, with Hippocrates, that
our body is composed or made up of three elements,
viz. containing parts, contained parts, and causes of
action, spirits being understood by the latter term.
But if spirits are to be taken as synonymous with
causes of activity, whatever has power in the living
body and a faculty of action must be included under
the denomination. It would appear, therefore, that all
spirits were neither aereal substances, nor powers, nor
habits ; and that all were not incorporeal.

But keeping in view the points that especially inter-
est us, others, as leading to tediousness, being left

Circulation of the Blood 143

unnoticed, it seems that the spirits which flow by
the veins or the arteries are not distinct from the
blood, any more than the flame of a lamp is distinct
from the inflammable vapour that is on fire; in short,
that the blood and these spirits signify one and the
same thing, though different, — like generous wine and
its spirit ; for as wine, when it has lost all its spirit, is
no longer wine, buta vapid liquor or vinegar; so blood
without spirit is not blood, but something else — clot or
cruor ; even as a hand of stone, or of a dead body, is
no hand in the most complete sense, neither is blood
void of the vital principle proper blood; it is imme-
diately to be held as corrupt when deprived of its
spirit. The spirit therefore which inheres in the
arteries, and especially in the blood which fills them,
is to be regarded either as its act or agent, in the same
way as the spirit of wine in wine, and the spirit of aqua
vitae in brandy, or as a flame kindled in alcohol, which
lives and feeds on, or is nourished by itself. The
blood consequently, though richly imbued with spirits,
does not swell, nor ferment, nor rise to a head through
them, so as to require and occupy a larger space, — a
fact that may be ascertained beyond the possibility of
question by the two cups of equal size ; it is to be
regarded as wine, possessed of a large amount of spirits,
or, in the Hippocratic sense, of signal powers of acting
and effecting.

It is therefore the same blood in the arteries that is
found in the veins, although it may be admitted to be
more spirituous, possessed of higher vital force in the
former than in the latter ; but it is not changed into
anything more vaporous, or more aereal, as if there
were no spirits but such as are aereal, and no cause of
action or activity that is not of the nature of flatus or
wind. But neither the animal, natural, nor vital spirits
which inhere in the solids, such as the ligaments and
nerves (especially if they be of so many different
species), and are contained within the viewless inter-

144 Circulation of the Blood

stices of the tissues, are to be regarded as so many
different aereal forms, or kinds of vapour.

And here I would gladly be informed by those who
admit corporeal spirits, but of a gaseous or vaporous
consistency, in the bodies of animals, whether or not
they have the power of passing hither and thither, like
distinct bodies independently of the blood ? Or whether
the spirits follow the blood in its motions, either as
integral parts of the fluid or as indissolubly connected
with it, so that they can neither quit the tissues nor
pass hither nor thither without the influx and reflux,
and motion of the blood ? For if the spirits exhaling
from the blood, like the vapour of water attenuated by
heat, exist in a state of constant flow and succession as
the pabulum of the tissues, it necessarily follows that
they are not distinct from this pabulum, but are in-
cessantly disappearing ; whereby it seems that they can
neither have influx nor reflux, nor passage, nor yet
remain at rest without the influx, the reflux, the passage
[or stasis] of the blood, which is the fluid that serves as
their vehicle or pabulum.

And next I desire to know of those who tell us that
the spirits are formed in the heart, being compounded
of the vapours or exhalations of the blood (excited
either by the heat of the heart or the concussion) and
the inspired air, whether such spirits are not to be
accounted much colder than the blood, seeing that
both the elements of their composition, namely, air
and vapour, are much colder? For the vapour of
boiling water is much more bearable than the water
itself; the flame of a candle is less burning than the
red-hot snuff, and burning charcoal than incandescent
iron or brass. Whence it would appear that spirits of
this nature rather receive their heat from the blood,
than that the blood is warmed by these spirits ; such
spirits are rather to be regarded as fumes and excre
mentitious effluvia proceeding from the body in the
manner of odours, than in any way as natural artificers

Circulation of the I>l<>od 145

of the tissues ; 8 conclusion which we are the 1
disposed to admit, when we see that they so spa

lose any virtue they may possess, and which they had.
derived from the blood as their source, — they aie at
best of a very frail and evanescent nature. Wh
also it becomes probable that the expiration of the
js na means by which these vapours being cast
off, the blood is fanned and purified ; whilst inspiration
is a means by which the blood in its passage between
the two ventricles of the heart is tempered by the cold
of the ambient atmosphere, lest, getting heated, and
blown up with a kind of fermentation, like milk or
honey set over the fire, it should so distend the lungs
that the animal got suffocated ; somewhat in the same
way, perchance, as one labouring under a severe
asthma, which Galen himself seems to refer to its
proper cause when he says it is owing to an obstruction
of the smaller arteries, viz. the vasa venosa et arteriosa.
And I have found by experience that patients affected
with asthma might be brought out of states of very
imminent danger by having cupping-glasses applied,
and a plentiful and sudden affusion of cold water [upon
the chest]. Thus much — and perhaps it is more than
was necessary — have I said on the subject of spirits in
this place, for I felt it proper to define them, and to say
something of their nature in a physiological disquisition.
I shall only further add, that they who descant on the
calidum innatum or innate heat, as an instrument of
nature available for every purpose, and who speak of
the necessity of heat as the cherisher and retainer in life
of the several parts of the body, who at the same time
admit that this heat cannot exist unless connected with
something, and because they find no substance of any-
thing like commensurate mobility, or which might keep
pace with the rapid intlux and reflux of this heat (in
affections of the mind especially), take refuge in spirits
as most subtile substances, possessed of the most
penetrating qualities, and highest mobility — these

146 Circulation of the Blood

persons see nothing less than the wonderful and almost
divine character of the natural operations as pro-
ceeding from the instrumentality of this common
agent, viz. the calidum innatum ; they farther regard
these spirits as of a sublime, lucid, ethereal, celestial,
or divine nature, and the bond of the soul ; even as the
vulgar and unlettered, when they do not comprehend
the causes of various effects, refer them to the imme-
diate interposition of the Deity. Whence they declare
that the heat perpetually flowing into the several parts
is in virtue of the influx of spirits through the channels
of the arteries ; as if the blood could neither move so
swiftly, nor penetrate so intimately, nor cherish so
effectually. And such faith do they put in this
opinion, such lengths are they carried by their belief,
that they deny the contents of the arteries to be blood !
And then they proceed with trivial reasonings to
maintain that the arterial blood is of a peculiar kind,
or that the arteries are filled with such aereal spirits,
and not with blood; all the while, in opposition to
everything which Galen has advanced against Erasi-
stratus, both on grounds of experiment and of reason.
But that arterial blood differs in nothing essential from
venous blood has been already sufficiently demonstrated;
and our senses likewise assure us that the blood and
spirits do not flow in the arteries separately and dis-
joined, but as one body.

We have occasion to observe so often as our hands,
feet, or ears have become stiff and cold, that as they
recover again by the warmth that flows into them, they
acquire their natural colour and heat simultaneously ;
that the veins which had become small and shrunk,
swell visibly and enlarge, so that when they regain
their heat suddenly they become painful ; from which
it appears, that that which by its influx brings heat is
the same which causes repletion and colour ; now this
can be and is nothing but blood.

When an artery and a vein are divided, any one may

Circulation of the Blood 147

clearly see that the part of the vein towards the heart
pours out no blood, whilst that beyond the wound
gives a torrent ; the divided artery, on the contrary, (as
in my experiment on the carotids,) pours out a flood of
pure blood from the orifice next the heart, and in jets
as if it were forced from a syringe, whilst from the
further orifice of the divided artery little or no blood
escapes. This experiment therefore plainly proves in
what direction the current sets in either order of vessels
— towards the heart in the veins, from the heart in the
arteries ; it also shows with what velocity the current
moves, not gradually and by drops, but even with
violence. And lest any one, by way of subterfuge,
should take shelter in the notion of invisible spirits,
let the orifice of the divided vessel be plunged under
water or oil, when, if there be any air contained in it,
the fact will be proclaimed by a succession of visible
bubbles. Hornets, wasps, and other insects of the
same description plunged in oil, and so suffocated,
emit bubbles of air from their tail whilst they are
dying ; whence it is not improbable that they thus
respire when alive ; for all animals submerged and
drowned, when they finally sink to the bottom and
die, emit bubbles of air from the mouth and lungs.
It is also demonstrated by the same experiment, that
the valves of the veins act with such accuracy, that air
blown into them does not penetrate ; much less then
can blood make its way through them : — it is certain,
I say, that neither sensibly nor insensibly, nor gradually
and drop by drop, can any blood pass from the heart
by the veins.

And that no one may seek shelter in asserting that
these things are so when nature is disturbed and
opposed, but not when she is left to herself and at
liberty to act ; that the same things do not come to
pass in morbid and unusual states as in the healthy
and natural condition ; they are to be met by saying,
that if it were so, if it happened that so much blood

148 Circulation of the Blood

was lost from the farther orifice of a divided vein
because nature was disturbed, still that the incision
does not close the nearer orifice, from which nothing
either escapes or can be expressed, whether nature be
disturbed or not. Others argue in the same way, main-
taining that, although the blood immediately spurts out
in such profusion with every beat, when an artery is
divided near the heart, it does not therefore follow that
the blood is propelled by the pulse when the heart and
artery are entire. It is most probable, however, that
every stroke impels something ; and that there would
be no pulse of the container, without an impulse being
communicated to the thing contained, seems certain.
Yet some, that they may seize upon a farther means
of defence, and escape the necessity of admitting the
circulation, do not fear to affirm that the arteries in the
living body and in the natural state are already so full
of blood, that they are incapable of receiving another
drop ; and so also of the ventricles of the heart. But
it is indubitable that, whatever the degree of distension
and the extent of contraction of the heart and arteries,
they are still in a condition to receive an aditional
quantity of blood forced into them, and that this is
far more than is usually reckoned in grains or drops,
seems also certain. For if the ventricles become so
excessively distended that they will admit no more
blood, the heart ceases to beat, (and we have occasional
opportunities of observing the fact in our vivisections,)
and, continuing tense and resisting, death by asphyxia
ensues.

In the work on the Motion of the Heart and Blood,
I have already sufficiently discussed the question as to
whether the blood in its motion was attracted, or im-
pelled, or moved by its own inherent nature. I have
there also spoken at length of the action and office, of
the dilatation and contraction of the heart, and have
shown what these truly are, and how the heart contracts
during the diastole of the arteries ; so that I must hold

Circulation of the Blood 149

those who take points for dispute from among them as
either not understanding the subject, or as unwilling to
look at things for themselves, and to investigate them
with their own sen- i. 1

For my part, I believe that no other kind of attraction
can be demonstrated in the living body save that of the
nutriment, which gradually and incessantly passes on to
supply the waste that takes place in the tissues ; in the
same way as the oil rises in the wick of a lamp to be
consumed by the flame. Whence I conclude that the
primary and common organ of all sensible attraction
and impulsion is of the nature of sinew (nervus), or
fibre, or muscle, and this to the end that it may be
contractile, that contracting it may be shortened, and
so either stretch out, draw towards, or propel. But
these topics will be better discussed elsewhere, when
we speak of the organs of motion in the animal
body.

To those who repudiate the circulation because they
neither see the efficient nor final cause of it, and who
exclaim, cui bono ? I have yet to reply, having hitherto
taken no note of the ground of objection which they
take up. And first I own I am of opinion that our first
duty is to inquire whether the thing be or not, before
asking wherefore it is? for from the facts and circum-
stances which meet us in the circulation admitted,
established, the ends and objects of its institution are
especially to be sought. Meantime I would only ask,
how many things we admit in physiology, pathology,
and therapeutics, the causes of which are unknown to
us ? That there are many, no one doubts — the causes
of putrid fevers, of revulsions, of the purgation of
excrementitious matters, among the number.

Whoever, therefore, sets himself in opposition to the
circulation, because, if it be acknowledged, he cannot
account for a variety of medical problems, nor in
the treatment of diseases and the administration of

' Vide Chapter XIV.

150 Circulation of the Blood

medicines, give satisfactory reasons for the phenomena
that appear ; or who will not see that the precepts he
has received from his teachers are false ; or who thinks
it unseemly to give up accredited opinions ; or who
regards it as in some sort criminal to call in question
doctrines that have descended through a long succes-
sion of ages, and carry the authority of the ancients ; —
to all of these I reply : that the facts cognizable by the
senses wait upon no opinions, and that the works of
nature bow to no antiquity ; for indeed there is nothing
either more ancient or of higher authority than nature.
To those who object to the circulation as throwing
obstacles in the way of their explanations of the
phenomena that occur in medical cases (and there
are persons who will not be content to take up with
a new system, unless it explains everything, as in
astronomy), and who oppose it with their own errone-
ous assumptions, such as that, if it be true, phlebotomy
cannot cause revulsion, seeing that the blood will still
continue to be forced into the affected part ; that the
passage of excrementitious matters and foul humours
through the heart, that most noble and principal viscus,
is to be apprehended ; that an efflux and excretion,
occasionally of foul and corrupt blood, takes place
from the same body, from different parts, even from
the same part and at the same time, which, were the
blood agitated by a continuous current, would be shaken
and effectually mixed in passing through the heart, and
many points of the like kind admitted in our medical
schools, which are seen to be repugnant to the doctrine
of the circulation, — to them I shall not answer farther
here, than that the circulation is not always the same in
every place, and at every time, but is contingent upon
many circumstances : the more rapid or slower motion
of the blood, the strength or weakness of the heart as
the propelling organ, the quantity and quality or con-
stitution of the blood, the rigidity or laxity of the
tissues and the like. A thicker blood, of course,

Circulation of the Blood 151

moves more slowly through narrower channels; it is
more effectually strained in its passage through the
substance of the liver than through that of the lui
It has not the same velocity through flesh and the
softer parenchymatous structures and through sinewy
parts of greater compactness and consistency : for the
thinner and purer and more spirituous part permeates
more quickly, the thicker more earthy and indifferently
concocted portion moves more slowly, or is refused
admission. The nutritive portion, or ultimate aliment
of the tissues, the dew or cambium, is of a more pene-
trating nature, inasmuch as it has to be added every-
where, and to everything that grows and is nourished
in its length and thickness, even to the horns, nails,
hair, and feathers ; and then the excrementitious
matters have to be secreted in some places, where
they accumulate, and either prove a burthen or are
concocted. But I do not imagine that the excremen-
titious fluids or bad humours when once separated, nor
the milk, the phlegm, and the spermatic fluid, nor the
ultimate nutritive part, the dew or cambium, necessarily
circulate with the blood : that which nourishes every
part adheres and becomes agglutinated to it. Upon
each of these topics and various others besides, to be
discussed and demonstrated in their several places, viz.
in the physiology and other parts of the art of medicine,
as well as of the consequences, advantages or dis-
advantages of the circulation of the blood, I do not
mean to touch here ; it were fruitless indeed to do so
until the circulation has been established and conceded
as a fact. And here the example of ast-ronomy is by
no means to be followed, in which from mere appear-
ances or phenomena that which is in fact, and the
reason wherefore it is so, are investigated. But as
he who inquires into the cause of an eclipse must
be placed beyond the moon if he would ascertain it
by sense, and not by reason, still in reference to things
sensible, things that come under the cognizance of the

152 Circulation of the Blood

senses, no more certain demonstration or means of
gaining faith can be adduced than examination by the
senses, than ocular inspection.

There is one remarkable experiment which I would
have every one try who is anxious for truth, and by
which it is clearly shown that the_arterial pulse is owing
to the impulse of the bloocLj Let apportion of the
dried intestine of a dag l5f~woTf, or any other animal,
such as we see hung up in the druggists' shops, be
' taken and filled with water, and then secured at both
ends like a sausage : by tapping with the finger at one
extremity, you will immediately feel a pulse and vibration
in any other part to which you apply the fingers, as you
do when you feel the pulse at the wrist. In this way,
indeed, and also by means of a distended vein, you
may accurately, either in the dead or living body,
imitate and show every variety of the pulse, whether as
to force, frequency, volume, rhythm, &c. Just as in a
long bladder full of fluid, or in an oblong drum, every
stroke upon one end is immediately felt at the other ;
so also in a dropsy of the belly and in abscesses under
the skin, we are accustomed to distinguish between
collections of fluid and of air, between anasarca and
tympanites in particular. If a slap or push given on
one side is clearly felt by a hand placed on the other
side, we judge the case to be tympanites [?] ; not, as
falsely asserted, because we hear a sound like that of
a drum, and this produced by flatus, which never
happens [?] ; but because, as in a drum, every the
slightest tap passes through and produces a certain
vibration on the opposite side ; for it indicates that
there is a serous and ichorous substance present, of
such a consistency as urine, and not any sluggish or
viscid matter as in anasarca, which when struck retains
the impress of the blow or pressure, and does not
transmit the impulse.

Having brought forward this experiment I may
observe, that a most formidable objection to the cir-

Circulation of the Blood 153

culation of the blood rises out of it, which, however,
has neither been observed nor adduced by any one \

has written against me. When we see by the experiment
JUSt described, th.it the systole and diastole of the pulse
can be accurately imitated without any escape of fluid,
it is obvious that the sa me ^ th ing may take place in the
arter ies from the stroke*of the he art, without the necessity
for a circulatiim T'Dut like E uriuus. with a me.rf; motion
of the blood alternately backwards and forwards. Hut
we have already satisfactorily replied to this difficulty ;
and now we venture to say that the thing could not be
so in the arteries of a living animal ; to be assured of
this it is enough - to see thaffthe right auricle is inces-
santly injecting the right ventricle of the heart with
blood, The return of which is effectually prevented by
the tricuspid valves ; the left auricle in like manner
filling thejeft ventricle, the return of the blood there
being opposed "by the mitral valves : and then the
ventricles in their turn are propelling the blood into
either great artery, the reflux in each being prevented
by the sigmoid valves in its orifice. Either, conse-
quently, the blood must move on incessantly through
the lungs, and in like manner within the arteries of the
body, or stagnating and pent up, it must rupture the
containing vessels, or choke the heart by over disten-
sion, as I have shown it to do in the vivisection of a
snake, described in my book on the Motion of the
Blood. To resolve this doubt I shall relate two
experiments among many others, the first of which,
indeed, I have already adduced, and which show with
singular clearness that the blood flows incessantly and
with great force and in ample abundance in the veins
towards the heart. The internal jugular vein of a live
fallow deer having been exposed, (many of the nobility
and his most serene majesty the king, my master, being
present,) was divided ; but a few drops of blood were
observed to escape from the lower orifice rising up
from under the clavicle; whilst from the superior orifice

154 Circulation of the Blood

of the vein and coming down from the head, a round
torrent of blood gushed forth. You may observe the
same fact any day in practising phlebotomy : if with
a finger you compress the vein a little below the orifice,
the flow of blood is immediately arrested ; but the
pressure being removed, forthwith the flow returns
as before.

From any long vein of the forearm get rid of the
blood as much as possible by holding the hand aloft
and pressing the blood towards the trunk, you will
perceive the vein collapsed and leaving, as it were, in
a furrow of the skin ; but now compress the vein with
the point of a finger, and you will immediately perceive
all that part of it which is towards the hand, to enlarge
and to become distended with the blood that is coming
from the hand. How comes it when the breath is held
and the lungs thereby compressed, a large quantity of
air having been taken in, that the vessels of the chest
are at the same time obstructed, the blood driven into
the face, and the eyes rendered red and suffused ?
Why is it, as Aristotle asks in his problems, that all
the actions are more energetically performed when the
breath is held than when it is given ? In like manner,
when the frontal and lingual veins are incised, the blood
is made to flow more freely by compressing the neck
and holding the breath. I have several times opened
the breast and pericardium of a man within two hours
after his execution by hanging, and before the colour
had totally left the face, and in presence of many
witnesses, have demonstrated the right auricle of the
heart and lungs distended with blood ; the auricle
in particular of the size of a large man's fist, and so full
of blood that it looked as if it would burst. This great
distension, however, had disappeared next day, the
body having stiffened and become cold, and the blood
having made its escape through various channels.
These and other similar facts, therefore, make it
sufficiently certain that the blood flows through the

Circulation of the Blood 155

whole of the veins of the body towards the base of the
heart, and that unless there was a further pa!
afforded it, it would be pent up in these channels,
ur would oppress and overwhelm the heart ; as on the

other hand, did it not flow outwards by the arteries, but
was found regurgitating, it would soon be seen how
much it would oppress.

I add another observation. A noble knight, Sir
Robert Darcy, an ancestor of that celebrated physician
and most learned man, my very dear friend Dr. Argent,
when he had reached to about the middle period - >f
life, made frequent complaint of a certain distressing
pain in the chest, especially in the night season ; so that
dreading at one time syncope, at another suffocation in
his attacks he led an unquiet and anxious life. He
tried many remedies in vain, having had the advice
of almost every medical man. The disease going on
from bad to worse, he by and by became cachectic and
dropsical, and finally, grievously distressed, he died in
one of his paroxysms. In the body of this gentleman,
at the inspection of which there were present Dr. Argent,
then president of the College of Physicians, and Dr.
Gorge, a distinguished theologian and preacher, who
was pastor of the parish, we found the wall of the left
ventricle of the heart ruptured, having a rent in it of
size sufficient to admit any of my fingers, although the
wall itself appeared sufficiently thick and strong ; this
laceration had apparently been caused by an impediment
to the passage of the blood from the left ventricle into
the arteries.

I was acquainted with another strong man, who
having received an injury and affront from one more
powerful than himself, and upon whom he could not
have his revenge, was so overcome with hatred and
spite and passion, which he yet communicated to no
one, that at last he fell into a strange distemper, suffer-
ing from extreme oppression and pain of the heart and
breast, and the prescriptions of none of the very best

156 Circulation of the Blood

physicians proving of any avail, he fell in the course of
a few years into a scorbutic and cachectic state, became
tabid and died. This patient only received some little
relief when the whole of his chest was pummelled or
kneaded by a strong man, as a baker kneads dough.
His friends thought him poisoned by some maleficent
influence, or possessed with an evil spirit. His jugular
arteries, enlarged to the size of the thumb, looked like
the aorta itself, or they were as large as the descending
aorta ; they had pulsated violently, and appeared like
two long aneurisms. These symptoms had led to trying
the effects of arteriotomy in the temples, but with no
relief. In the dead body I found the heart and aorta
so much gorged and distended with blood, that the
cavities of the ventricles equalled those of a bullock's
heart in size. Such is the force of the blood pent up,
and such are the effects of its impulse.

We may therefore conclude, that although there may
be impulse without any exit, as illustrated in the experi-
ment lately spoken of, still that this could not take
place in the vessels of living creatures without most
serious dangers and impediments. From this, however,
it is manifest that the blood in its course does not
everywhere pass with the same celerity, neither with the
same force in all places and at all times, but that it
varies greatly according to age, sex, temperament, habit
of body, and other contingent circumstances, external
as well as internal, natural or non-natural. For it does
not course through intricate and obstructed passages
with the same readiness that it does through straight,
unimpeded, and pervious channels. Neither does it
run through close, hard, and crowded parts, with the
same velocity as through spongy, soft, and permeable
tissues. Neither does it flow and penetrate with such
swiftness when the impulse [of the heart] is slow and
weak, as when this is forcible and frequent, in which
case the blood is driven onwards with vigour and in
large quantity. Nor is the same blood, when it has

Circulation of the Blood 157

become moi consistent or earthy, so penetrative as
when it is more serous and attenuated or liquid. And
then it seems only reasonable to think that the bl
in its circuit passes more slowly through the kidneys
than through the substance of the heart ; more swiftly
through the liver than through the kidneys; through
the spleen more quickly than through the lungs, and
through the lungs more speedily than through any of
the other viscera or the muscles, in proportion always
to the denseness or spi mginess of the tissue of each.

We may be permitted to take the same view of the
influence of age, sex, temperament, and habit of body,
whether this be hard or soft ; of that of the ambient
cold which condenses bodies, and makes the veins
in the extremities to shrink and almost to disappear,
and deprives the surface both of colour aud heat ;
and also that of meat and drink which render the
blood more watery, by supplying fresh nutritive matter.
From the veins, therefore, the blood flows more freely
in phlebotomy when the body is warm than when it is
cold. We also observe the signal influence of the
affections of the mind when a timid person is bled and
happens to faint : immediately the flow of blood is
arrested, a deadly pallor overspreads the surface, the
limbs stiffen, the ears sing, the eyes are dazzled or
blinded, and, as it were, convulsed. But here I come
upon a field where I might roam freely and give myself
up to speculation. And, indeed, such a flood of light
and truth breaks in upon me here; occasion offers of
explaining so many problems, of resolving so many
doubts, of discovering the causes of so many slighter
and more serious diseases, and of suggesting remedies
for their cure, that the subject seems almost to demand
a separate treatise. And it will be my business in my
" Medical Observations," to lay before my reader matter
upon all these topics which shall be worthy of the
gravest consideration.

And what indeed is more deserving of attention than

158 Circulation of the Blood

the fact that in almost every affection, appetite, hope,
or fear, our body suffers, the countenance changes, and
the blood appears to course hither and thither. In
anger the eyes are fiery and the pupils contracted ;
in modesty the cheeks are suffused with blushes ; in
fear, and under a sense of infamy and of shame, the
face is pale, but the ears burn as if for the evil they
heard or were to hear ; in lust how quickly is the
member distended with blood and erected ! But, above
all, and this is of the highest interest to the medical
practitioner, — how speedily is pain relieved or removed
by the detraction of blood, the application of cupping-
glasses, or the compression of the artery which leads
to a part? It sometimes vanishes as if by magic.
But these are topics that I must refer to my " Medical
Observations," where they will be found exposed at
length and explained.

Some weak and inexperienced persons vainly seek
by dialectics and far-fetched arguments, either to upset
or establish things that are only to be founded on
anatomical demonstration, and believed on the evidence
of the senses. He who truly desires to be informed
of the question in hand, and whether the facts alleged
be sensible, visible, or not, must be held bound either
to look for himself, or to take on trust the conclusions
to which they have come who have looked ; and indeed
there is no higher method of attaining to assurance
and certainty. Who would pretend to persuade those
who had never tasted wine that it was a drink much
pleasanter to the palate than water ? By what reason-
ing should we give the blind from birth to know that
the sun was luminous, and far surpassed the stars in
brightness ? And so it is with the circulation of the
blood, which the world has now had before it for so
many years, illustrated by proofs cognizable by the
senses, and confirmed by various experiments. No
one has yet been found to dispute the sensible facts,
the motion, efflux and afflux of the blood, by like

Circulation of the Blood 159

observations based on the evidence of sense, or to
oppose the experiments adduced, by other experiments
of the same character ; nay, no one has yet attempted
an opposition on the ground of ocular testimony.

There have not been wanting many who, inex-
perienced and ignorant of anatomy, and making no
appeal to the senses in their opposition, have, on the
contrary, met it with empty assertions, and mere
suppositions, with assertions derived from the lessons
of teachers and captious cavillings; many, too, have
vainly sought refuge in words, and these not always
very nicely chosen, but reproachful and contumelious;
which, however, have no farther effect than to expose
their utterer's vanity and weakness, and ill breeding
and lack of the arguments that are to be sought in
the conclusions of the senses, and false sophistical
reasonings that seem utterly opposed to sense. Even
as the waves of the Sicilian sea, excited by the blast,
dash against the rocks around Charybdis, and then
hiss and foam, and are tossed hither and thither ; so
do they who reason against the evidence of their
senses.

Were nothing to be acknowledged by the senses
without evidence derived from reason, or occasionally
even contrary to the previously received conclusions of
reason, there would now be no problem left for dis-
cussion. Had we not our most perfect assurances by
the senses, and were not their perceptions confirmed
by reasoning, in the same way as geometricians proceed
with their figures, we should admit no science of any
kind ; for it is the business of geometry, from things
sensible, to make rational demonstration of things that
are not sensible ; to render credible or certain things
abstruse and beyond sense from things more manifest
and better known. Aristotle counsels us better when,
in treating of the generation of bees, he says : l " Faith
is to be given to reason, if the matters demonstrated

1 De Generat. Animal, lib. iii, cap. r.

160 Circulation of the Blood

agree with those that are perceived by the senses ;
when the things have been thoroughly scrutinized, then
are the senses to be trusted rather than the reason."
Whence it is our duty to approve or disapprove, to
receive or reject everything only after the most careful
examination ; but to examine, to test whether anything
have been well or ill advanced, to ascertain whether
some falsehood does not lurk under a proposition, it
is imperative on us to bring it to the proof of sense,
and to admit or reject it on the decision of sense.
Whence Plato in his Critias says, that the explanation
of those things is not difficult of which we can have
experience ; whilst they are not of apt scientific appre-
hension who have no experience.

How difficult is it to teach those who have no
experience, the things of which they have not any
knowledge by their senses ! And how useless and
intractable, and unimpregnable to true science are such
auditors ! They show the judgment of the blind in
regard to colours, of the deaf in reference to concords.
Who ever pretended to teach the ebb and flow of the
tide, or from a diagram to demonstrate the measure-
ments of the angles and the proportions of the sides
of a triangle to a blind man, or to one who had
never seen the sea nor a diagram ? He who is not
conversant with anatomy, inasmuch as he forms no
conception of the subject from the evidence_p'f hTs
own eyes, is virtually blind to all thai.. -concerns
anatomy, and unfit to appreciate what is founded
thereon ; he knows nothing of that whi ch occ upies
the attention of the anatomist, nor"ofThe principles
inherent in the nature of the things which guide him
in his reasonings ; facts and inferences as well as their
sources are alike unknown to such a one. But no
kind of science can possibly flow, save from some
pre-existing knowledge of more obvious things ; and
this is one main reason why our science in regard to
the nature of celestial bodies, is so uncertain and

Circulation of the Blood 161

conjectural. I would ask of those who profess a
knowledge of the causes of all things, why the two
eyes keep constantly moving together, up or down,
to this side or to that, and not independently, one
looking this way, another that ; why the two auricles
of the heart contract simultaneously, and the like?
Are fevers, pestilence, and the wonderful properties of
various medicines to be denied because their causes
are unknown? Who can tell us why the fcetus in
utero, breathing no air up to the tenth month of its
existence, is yet not suffocated? Born in the course
of the seventh or eighth month, and having once
breathed, it is nevertheless speedily suffocated if its
ration be interrupted. Why can the fcetus still
contained within the uterus, or enveloped in the
membranes, live without respiration; whilst once
exposed to the air, unless it breathes it inevitably
dies? 2

Observing that many hesitate to acknowledge the
circulation, and others oppose it, because, as I con-
ceive, they have not rightly understood me, I shall
here recapitulate briefly what I have said in my work
on the Motion of the Heart and Blood, The blood
contained in the veins, in its magazine, and where it
is collected in largest quantity, viz. in the vena cava,
close to the base of the heart and right auricle, gradually
increasing in temperature by its internal heat, and be-
coming attenuated, swells and rises like bodies in a
state of fermentation, whereby the auricle being dilated,
and then contracting, in virtue of its pulsative power,
forthwith delivers its charge into the right ventricle ;
which being filled, and the systole ensuing, the charge,
hindered from returning into the auricle by the tricuspid
valves, is forced into the pulmonary artery, which stands
open to receive it, and is immediately distended with
it. Once in the pulmonary artery, the blood cannot
return, by reason of the sigmoid valves ; and then the

1 Vide Chapter VI. of the Duq. on the Motion of the Heart and Bluod.

1 62 Circulation of the Blood

lungs, alternately expanded and contracted during in-
spiration and expiration, afford it passage by the proper
vessels into the pulmonary veins ; from the pulmonary
veins, the left auricle, acting equally and synchronously
with the right auricle, delivers the blood into the left
ventricle ; which acting harmoniously with the right
ventricle, and all regress being prevented by the mitral
valves, the blood is projected into the aorta, and con-
sequently impelled into all the arteries of the body.
The arteries, filled by this sudden push, as they cannot
discharge themselves so speedily, are distended ; they
receive a shock, or undergo their diastole. But as
this process goes on incessantly, I infer that the arteries
both of the lungs and of the body at large, under the
influence of such a multitude of strokes of the heart
and injections of blood, would finally become so over-
gorged and distended, that either any further injection
must cease, or the vessels would burst, or the whole
blood in the body would accumulate within them, were
there not an exit provided for it.

The same reasoning is applicable to the ventricles of
the heart : distended by the ceaseless action of the
auricles, did they not disburthen themselves by the
channels of the arteries, they would by and by become
over-gorged, and be fixed and made incapable of all
motion. Now this, my conclusion, is true and neces-
sary, if my premises be true ; but that these are either
true or false, our senses must inform us, not our reason
— ocular inspection, not any process of the mind.

I maintain further, that the blood in the veins always
and everywhere flows from less to greater branches, and
from every part towards the heart; whence I gather
that the whole charge which the arteries receive, and
which is incessantly thrown into them, is delivered to
the veins, and flows back by them to the source whence
it came. In this way, indeed, is the circulation of the
blood established : by an efflux and reflux from and to
the heart ; the fluid being forcibly projected into the

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Circulation of the Blood 163

arterial system, and then absorbed and imbibed from
every part by the veins, it returns through these in a
continuous stream. That all this is so, sense assures
us ; and necessary inference from the perceptions of
sense takes away all occasion for doubt. Lastly, this is
what I have striven, by my observations and experi-
ments, To illustrate and make known; I have not
endeavoured from causes and probable principles to
demonstrate my propositions, but, as of higher authority,
to estHTflTsrx them by appeals to sense and experiment,
after the manner of anatomists.

And here I would refer to the amount of force, even
of violence, which sight and touch make us aware of in
the heart and greater arteries ; and to the systole and
diastole constituting the pulse in the large warm-blooded
animals, which I do not say is equal in all the vessels
containing blood, nor in all animals that have blood ;
but which is of such a nature and amount in all, that a
flow and rapid passage of the blood through the smaller
arteries, the interstices of the tissues, and the branches
of the veins, must of necessity take place ; and therefore
there is a circulation.

For neither do the most minute arteries, nor the
veins, pulsate ; but the larger arteries and those near
the heart pulsate, because they do not transmit the
blood so quickly as they receive it. 1 Having exposed
an artery, and divided it so that the blood shall flow out
as fast and freely as it is received, you will scarcely
perceive any pulse in that vessel ; and for the simple
reason, that an open passage being afforded, the blood
escapes, merely passing through the vessel, not dis-
tending it. In fishes, serpents, and the colder animals,
the heart beats so slowly and feebly, that a pulse can
scarcely be perceived in the arteries ; the blood in them
is transmitted gradually. Whence in them, as also in
the smaller branches of the arteries in man, there is no
distinction between the coats of the arteries and veins,

1 Vide Chapter III, on the Motion of the Heart and Blood.

164 Circulation of the Blood

because the arteries have to sustain no shock from the
impulse of the blood.

An artery denuded and divided in the way I have
indicated, sustains no shock, and therefore does not
pulsate ; whence it clearly appears that the arteries have
no inherent pulsative power, and that neither do they
derive any from the heart; but that they undergo their
diastole solely from the impulse of the blood; for in
the full stream, flowing to a distance, you may see the
systole and diastole, all the motions of the heart — their
order, force, rhythm, &c., x as it were in a mirror, and
even perceive them by the touch. Precisely as in the
water that is forced aloft, through a leaden pipe, by
working the piston of a forcing-pump, each stroke of
which, though the jet be many feet distant, is neverthe-
less distinctly perceptible, — the beginning, increasing
strength, and end of the impulse, as well as its amount,
and the regularity or irregularity with which it is given,
being indicated, the same precisely is the case from the
orifice of a divided artery; whence, as in the instance
of the forcing engine quoted, you will perceive that the
efflux is uninterrupted, although the jet is alternately
greater and less. In the arteries, therefore, besides the
concussion or impulse of the blood, the pulse or beat
of the artery, which is not equally exhibited in all,
there is a perpetual flow and motion of the blood,
which returns in an unbroken stream to the point
from whence it commenced — the right auricle of the
heart.

All these points you may satisfy yourself upon, by
exposing one of the longer arteries, and having taken it
between your finger and thumb, dividing it on the side
remote from the heart. By the greater or less pressure
of your fingers, you can have the vessel pulsating less
or more, or losing the pulse entirely, and recovering it
at will. And as these things proceed thus when the
chest is uninjured, so also do they go on for a short

1 Vide Chapter III, on the Motion of the Heart and Blood.

Circulation of the Blood 165

time when the thorax is laid open, and the lungs having
collapsed, all the respiratory motions have ceased;
here, nevertheless, for a little while you may perceive
the left auricle contracting and emptying itself, and
becoming whiter; but by and by growing weaker and
weaker, it begins to intermit, as does the left ventricle
also, and then it ceases to beat altogether, and becomes
quiescent. Along with this, and in the same measure,
does the stream of blood from the divided artery grow
less and less, the pulse of the vessel weaker and weaker,
until at last, the supply of blood and the impulse of the
left ventricle failing, nothing escapes from it. You may
perform the same experiment, tying the pulmonary
veins, and so taking away the pulse of the left auricle,
or relaxing the ligature, and restoring it at pleasure.
In this experiment, too, you will observe what happens
in moribund animals — viz. that the left ventricle first
ceases from pulsation and motion, then the left auricle,
next the right ventricle, finally the right auricle; so
that where the vital force and pulse first begin, there
do they also last fail.

All of these particulars having been recognized by the
senses, it is manifest that the blood passes through
the lungs, not through the septum [in its course from
the right to the left side of the heart], and only through
them when they are moved in the act of respiration,
not when they are collapsed and quiescent; whence we
see the probable reasonHvtrerefore nature has instituted
the foramen ovale in the foetus, instead of sending the
blood by the way of the pulmonary artery into the left
auricle and ventricle, which foramen she closes when
the new-born creature begins to breathe freely. We
can also now understand why, when the vessels of the
lungs become congested and oppressed, and in those
who are affected with serious diseases, it should be so
dangerous and fatal a symptom when the respiratory-
organs become implicated.

We perceive further, why the blood is so florid in

1 66 Circulation of the Blood

the lungs, which is, because it is thinner, as having
there to undergo filtration.

Still further ; from the summary which precedes, and
by way of satisfying those who are importunate in
regard to the causes of the circulation, and incline to
regard the power of the heart as competent to every-
thing — as that it is not only the seat and source of the
pulse which propels the blood, but also, as Aristotle
thinks, of the power which attracts and produces it ;
moreover, that the spirits are engendered by the heart,
and the influxive vital heat, in virtue of the innate heat
of the heart, as the immediate instrument of the soul,
or common bond and prime organ in the performance
of every act of vitality ; in a word, that the motion,
perfection, heat, and every property besides of the
blood and spirits are derived from the heart, as their
fountain or original, (a doctrine as old as Aristotle, who
maintained all these qualities to inhere in the blood, as
heat inheres in boiling water or pottage,) and that the
heart is the primary cause of pulsation and life ; to those
persons, did I speak openly, I should say that I do not
agree with the common opinion ; there are numerous
particulars to be noted in the production of the parts
of the body which incline me this way, but which it
does not seem expedient to enter upon here. Before
long, perhaps, I shall have occasion to lay before the
world things that are more wonderful than these, and
that are calculated to throw still greater light upon
natural philosophy.

Meantime I shall only say, and, without pretending
to demonstrate it, propound — with the good leave of
our learned men, and with all respect for antiquity —
that the heart, with the veins and arteries and the
blood they contain, is to be regarded as the beginning
and author, and fountain and original of all things in the
body, the primary cause of life ; and this in the same
acceptation as the brain with its nerves, organs of sense
and spinal marrow inclusive, is spoken of as the one

Circulation of the Blood 167

and general organ of sensation. But if by the word
heart the mere body of the heart, made up of its auricles
and ventricles, be understood, then I do not believe
that the heart is the fashioner of the blood ; neither do
I imagine that the blood has powers, propertii s, motion,
or hcaU. Jl£_lh£-giIlv_o.f the heart ; lastly, neither do I
admit that the cause of the systole and contraction is
the same as that of the diastole or dilatation, whether
in the arteries, auricles, or ventricles ; for I hold that
that part of the pulse which is designated the diastole
depends on another cause different from the systole, and
that it must always and everywhere precede any systole ;
I hold that the innate heat is the first cause of dilata-
tion, and that the primary dilatation is in the blood
itself, after the manner of bodies in a state of fermenta-
tion, gradually attenuated and swelling, and that in the
blood is this finally extinguished ; I assent to Aristotle's
example of gruel or milk upon the fire, to this extent,
that the rising and falling of the blood does not depend
upon vapours or exhalations, or spirits, or anything
rising in a vaporous or aereal shape, nor upon any
external agency, but upon an internal principle under
the control of nature.

Nor is the heart, as some imagine, anything like a
chauffer or fire, or heated kettle, and so the source ol
the heat of the blood ; the blood, instead of receiving,
rnthcj ^ivPsJ^^^ rr> the hearf^as'it does"TO"a11 the
other parts of the body ; for the blood is the hottest
element in the body ; and it is on this account that the
heart is furnished with coronary arteries and veins ; it
is for the same reason that other parts have vessels,
viz. to secure the access of warmth for their due con-
servation and stimulation ; so that the warmer any part
is, the greater is its supply of blood, or otherwise ;
where the blood is in largest quantity, there also is the
heat highest. For this reason is the heart, remarkable
through its cavities, to be viewed as the elaboratory,
fountain, and perennial focus of heat, and as com-

1 68 Circulation of the Blood

parable to a hot kettle, not because of its proper
substance, but because of its contained blood ; for the
same reason, because they have numerous veins or
vessels containing blood, are the liver, spleen, lungs,
&c, reputed hot parts. And in this way do I view the
native or innate heat as the common instrument of
every function, the prime cause of the pulse among the
rest. This, however, I do not mean to state absolutely,
but only propose it by way of thesis. Whatever may
be objected to it by good and learned men, without
abusive or contemptuous language, I shall be ready to
listen to — I shall even be most grateful to any one who
will take up and discuss the subject.

These, then, are, as it were, the very elements and
indications of the passage and circulation of the blood,
viz. from the right auricle into the right ventricle ; from
the right ventricle by the way of the lungs into the left
auricle; thence into the left ventricle and aorta; whence
by the arteries at large through the pores or interstices
of the tissues into the veins, and by the veins back
again with great rapidity to the base of the heart.

There is an experiment on the veins by which any-
one that chooses may convince himself of this truth :
Let the arm be bound with a moderately tight bandage.
and then, by opening and shutting the hand, make all
the veins to swell as much as possible, and the integu-
ments below the fillets to become red ; and now let the
arm and hand be plunged into very cold water, or snow,
until the blood pent up in the veins shall have become
cooled down ; then let the fillet be undone suddenly,
and you will perceive, by the cold blood returning to
the heart, with what celerity the current flows, and what
an effect it produces when it has reached the heart ; so
that you will no longer be surprised that some should
faint when the fillet is undone after venesection. 1 This
experiment shows that the veins swell below the
ligature not with attenuated blood, or with blood raised

1 Vide Chapter XI, of the Motion of the Heart, &c.

Circulation of the Blood 169

by spirits or vapours, for the immersion in the cold
water would repress their ebullition, but with blood
only, and such as could never make its way back into
the arteries, either by open-mouthed communications
or by devious passages ; it shows, moreover, how and
in what way those who are travelling over snowy
mountains are sometimes stricken suddenly with death,
and other things of the same kind.

1 . >t it should seem difficult for the blood to make-
its way through the pores of the various structures of
the body, I shall add one illustration : The same thing
happens in the bodies of those that are hanged or
strangled, as in the arm that is bound with a fillet :
all the parts beyond the noose, — the face, lips, tongue,
eyes, and every part of the head appear gorged with
blood, swollen, and of a deep red or livid colour ; but
if the noose be relaxed, in whatever position you have
the body, before many hours have passed you will
perceive the whole of the blood to have quitted the
head and face, and gravitated through the pores of the
skin, flesh, and other structures, from the superior parts
towards those that are inferior and dependent, until
they become tumid and of a dark colour. But if this
happens in the dead body, with the blood dead and
coagulated, the frame stiffened with the chill of death,
the passages all compressed or blocked up, it is easy to
perceive how much more apt it will be to occur in the
living subject, when the blood is alive and replete with
spirits, when the pores are all open, the fluid ready to
penetrate, and the passage in every way made easy.

When the ingenious and acute X>££cartes, (whose
honourable mention of my name demands my acknow-
ledgments,) and others, havingjaken out the hear: of a
fish, and put it on a plate before them, see it continuing
to pulsate (in contracting), and when it raises or erects
itself and becomes firm to the touch, they think it
enlarges, expands, and that its ventricles thence become
more capacious. But, in my opinion, they do not

i'/o Circulation of the Blood

observe correctly ; for, at the time the heart gathers
itself up, and becomes erect, it is certain that it is rather
lessened in every one of its dimensions ; that it is in its
systole, in short, not in its diastole. Neither, on the
contrary, when it collapses and sinks down, is it then
properly in its state of diastole and distension, by which
the ventricles become more capacious. But as we do
not say that the heart is in the state of diastole in the
dead body, as having sunk relaxed after the systole,
but is then collapsed, and without all motion — in short
is in a state of rest, and not distended. It is only
truly distended, and in the proper state of diastole,
when it is filled by the charge of blood projected into
it by the contraction of the auricles ; a fact which
sufficiently appears in the course of vivisections.
Descartes therefore does not perceive how much the
relaxation and subsidence of the heart and arteries
differ from their distension or diastole ; and that the
cause of the distension, relaxation, and constriction, is
not one and the same ; as contrary effects so must they
rather acknowledge contrary causes ; as different move-
ments they must have different motors ; just as all
anatomists know that the flexion and extension of an
extremity are accomplished by opposite antagonist
muscles, and contrary or diverse motions are neces-
sarily performed by contrary and diverse organs
instituted by nature for the purpose. Neither do I
find the efficient cause of the pulse aptly explained by
this philosopher, when with Aristotle he assumes the
cause of the systole to be the same as that of the
diastole, viz. an effervescence of the blood due to a kind
of ebullition. For the pulse is a succession of sudden
strokes and quick percussions ; but we know of no kind
of fermentation or ebullition in which the matter rises
and falls in the twinkling of an eye ; the heaving is
always gradual where the subsidence is notable.
Besides, in the body of a living animal laid open, we
can with our eyes perceive the ventricles of the heart

Circulation of the Rlood 171

both charged and distended by the contraction of the
auricles, and more or less increased in size according
to the charge ; and farther, we can see that the dis-
tension of the heart is rather a violent motion, the effect
of an impulsion, and not performed by any kind of
attraction.

Some are of opinion that, as no kind of impulse of
the nutritive juices is required in vegetables, but that
these are attracted by the parts which require them,
and flow in to take the place of what has been lost ; so
neither is there any necessity for an impulse in animals,
the vegetative faculty in both working alike. But there
is a difference between plants and animals. In animals,
a constant supply of warmth is required to cherish the
members, to maintain them in life by the vivifying heat,
and to restore parts injured from without. It is not
merely nutrition that has to be provided for.

So much for the circulation ; any impediment, or
perversion, or excessive excitement of which, is followed
by a host of dangerous diseases and remarkable
symptoms : in connexion with the veins — varices,
abcesses, pains, hemorrhoids, hemorrhages ; in con-
nexion with the arteries — enlargements, phlegmons,
severe and lancinating pains, aneurisms, sarcoses,
fluxions, sudden attacks of suffocation, asthmas, stupors,
apoplexies, and innumerable other affections. But this
is not the place to enter on the consideration of these ;
neither may I say under what circumstances and how
speedily some of these diseases, that are even reputed
incurable, are remedied and dispelled, as if by en-
chantment. I shall have much to put forth in my
Medical Observations and Pathology, which, so far as
I know, has as yet been observed by no one.

That I may afford you still more ample satisfaction,
most learned Riolanus, as you do not think there is a
circulation in the vessels of the mesentery, I shall
conclude by proposing the following experiment :
throw a ligature round the porta close to the

172 Circulation of the Blood

liver, in a living animal, which is easily done. You
will forthwith perceive the veins below the ligature
swelling in the same way as those of the arm when the
bleeding fillet is bound above the elbow ; a circum-
stance which will proclaim the course of the blood
there. And as you still seem to think that the blood
can regurgitate from the veins into the arteries by open
anastomoses, let the vena cava be tied in a living
animal near the divarication of the crural veins, and
immediately afterwards let an artery be opened to give
issue to the blood : you will soon observe the whole of
the blood discharged from all the veins, that of the
ascending cava among the number, with the single
exception of the crural veins, which will continue full ;
and this certainly could not happen were there any
retrograde passage for the blood from the veins to the
arteries by open anastomoses.

LETTERS

LETTERS

LETTER I

To Caspar Hofmanru Af.D. Published at Nurenberg y
in the " Spicilegium Illustrium Epistolarum ad Casp.
Hofmannum?

Your opinion of me, my most learned Hofmann, so
candidly given, and of the motion and circulation of
the blood, is extremely gratifying to me ; and I rejoice
that I have been permitted to see and to converse with
a man so learned as yourself, whose friendship I as
readily embrace as I cordially return it. But I find
that you have been pleased first elaborately to inculpate
me, and then to make me pay the penalty, as having
seemed to you " to have impeached and condemned
Nature of folly and error ; and to have imputed to her
the character of a most clumsy and inefficient artificer,
in suffering the blood to become recrudescent, and
making it return again and again to the heart in order
to be reconcocted, to grow effete as often in the general
system ; thus uselessly spoiling the perfectly-made blood,
merely to find her in something to do. ; ' But where or
when anything of the kind was ever said, or even
imagined by me — by me, who, on the contrary, have
never lost an opportunity of expressing my admiration
of the wisdom and aptness and industry of Nature, — as
you do not say, I am not a little disturbed to find such
things charged upon me by a man of sober judgment
like yourself. In my printed book, I do, indeed, assert
that the blood is incessantly moving out from the heart

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by the arteries to the general system, and returning

from this by the veins back to the heart, and with such

an ebb and flow, in such mass and quantity that it

must necessarily move in some way in a circuit. But

if you will be kind enough to refer to my eighth and

ninth chapters you will find it stated in so many words

that I have purposely omitted to speak of the concoction

of the blood, and of the causes of this motion and

circulation, especially of the final cause. So much I

have been anxious to say, that I might purge myself in

the eyes of a learned and much respected man, — that I

might feel absolved of the infamy of meriting such

censure. And I beg you to observe, my learned, my

impartial friend, if you would see with your own eyes

the things I affirm in respect of the circulation, — and

this is the course which most beseems an anatomist, —

that I engage to comply with your wishes, whenever a

fit opportunity is afforded ; but if you either decline

this, or care not by dissection to investigate the subject

for yourself, let me beseech you, I say, not to vilipend

the industry of others, nor charge it to them as a

crime; do not derogate from the faith of an honest

man, not altogether foolish nor insane, who has had

experience in such matters for a long series of years.

Farewell, and beware ! and act by me, as I have done
by you ; for what you have written I receive as uttered
in all candour and kindness. Be sure, in writing to
me in return, that you are animated by the same
sentiments.

Niirnberg, May 20th, 1636.

LETTER II

To Paul Marquard S/egel, of Hamburg

I congratulate you much, most learned sir, on your
excellent commentary, in which you have replied in a
very admirable manner to Riolanus, the distinguished

Letters 177

anatomist, and, as you say, formerly your teacher :
invincible truth has, indeed, taught the scholar to
vanquish the master. I was myself preparing a sponge
for his most recent arguments ; but intent upon my
work " On the Generation of Animals " (which, but just
(i>me forth, I send to you), I have not had leisure to
produce it. And now I rather rejoice in the silence,
as from your supplement I perceive that it has led you
to come forward with your excellent reflections, to the
common advantage of the world of letters. For I see
that in your most ornate book (I speak without flattery),
you have skilfully and nervously confuted all his
machinations against the circulation, and successfully
thrown down the scaffolding of his more recent opinions.
I am, therefore, but little solicitous about labouring at
any ulterior answer. Many things might, indeed, be
adduced in confirmation of the truth, and several
calculated to shed clearer light on the art of medicine ;
but of these we shall perhaps see further by and by.

Meantime, as Riolanus uses his utmost efforts to
oppose the passage of the blood into the left ven-
tricle through the lungs, and brings it all hither through
the septum, and so vaunts himself upon having upset
the very foundations of the Harveian circulation
(although I have nowhere assumed such a basis for my
doctrine ; for there is a circulation in many red-blooded
animals that have no lungs), it may be well here to
relate an experiment which I lately tried in the presence
of several of my colleagues, and from the cogency of
which there is no means of escape for him. Having
tied the pulmonary artery, the pulmonary veins, and
the aorta, in the body of a man who had been hanged,
and then opened the left ventricle of the heart, we
passed a tube through the vena cava into the right
ventricle of the heart, and having, at the same time,
attached an ox's bladder to the tube, in the same way
as a clyster-bag is usually made, we filled it nearly full
of warm water, and forcibly injected the fluid into the
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1 7 8

Letters

heart, so that the greater part of a pound of water was
thrown into the right auricle and ventricle. The result
was, that the right ventricle and auricle were enormously
distended, but not a drop of water or of blood made
its escape through the orifice in the left ventricle. The
ligatures having been undone, the same tube was passed
into the pulmonary artery, and a tight ligature having
been put round it to prevent any reflux into the right
ventricle, the water in the bladder was now pushed
towards the lungs, upon which a torrent of the fluid,
mixed with a quantity of blood, immediately gushed forth
from the perforation in the left ventricle ; so that a
quantity of water, equal to that which was pressed from
the bladder into the lungs at each effort, instantly
escaped by the perforation mentioned. You may try
this experiment as often as you please ; the result you
will still find to be as I have stated it.

With this one experiment you may easily put an end
to all Riolanus's altercations on the matter, to which
he, nevertheless, so entirely trusts, that, without
adducing so much as a single experiment in support of
his views, he has been led to invent a new circulation,
and even so far to commit himself as to say that, unless
the old doctrine of the circulation x be overturned, his
own is inadmissible. We may pardon this distinguished
individual for not having sooner discovered a hidden
truth ; but that he, so well skilled in anatomy as he is,
should obstinately contend against a truth illustrated by
the clearest light of reason, this surely is argument of
his envy — let me not call it by any worse name. But,
perhaps, we are still to find an excuse for Riolanus,
and to say, that what he has written is not so much of
his own motion, as in discharge of the duties of his
office, and with a view to stand well with his colleagues.
As Dean of the College of Paris, he was bound to see
the physic of Galen kept in good repair, and to admit
no novelty into the school, without the most careful

i i.e. Harvey's Doctrine.

Letters 179

winnowing, lest, as he says, the precepts and dogmata
of physic should be disturbed, and the pathology which
has for so many years obtained the sanction of all the
learned in assigning the causes of disease, be overthrown.
1 1 has been playing the part of the advocate, therefore,
rather than of the practised anatomist. But, as Aristotle
tells us, it is not less absurd to expect demonstrative
arguments from the advocate, than it is to look for
persuasive arguments from the demonstrator or teacher.
For the sake of the old friendship subsisting between
us, moreover, and the high praise which he has lavished
on the doctrine of the circulation, I cannot find it in
my heart so say anything severe of Riolanus.

I therefore return to you, most learned Slegel, and
say, that I wish greatly I had been so full and explicit
in what I have said on the subject of anastomosis in
my disquisition to Riolanus, as would have left you
with no doubts or scruples on the matter. I could
wish, also, that you had taken into account not only
what I have there denied, but likewise what I have-
asserted on the transference of the blood from the
arteries into the veins ; especially as I there seem to
have pointed out some cause both for my inquiry and
for my negation, to hint at a certain cause. I confess,
I say, nay, I even pointedly assert, that I have never
found any visible anastomoses. But this was particularly-
said against Riolanus, who limited the circulation of
the blood to the larger vessels only, with which, there-
fore, these anastomoses, if any such there were, must
have been made conformable, viz. of ample size, and
distinctly visible. Although it be true, therefore, that
I totally deny all anastomoses of this description —
anastomoses in the way the word is commonly under-
stood, and as the meaning has come down to us from
Galen, viz. a direct conjunction between the orifices of
the [visible] arteries and veins — I still admit, in the
same disquisition, that I have found what is equivalent
to this in three places, namely, in the plexus of the

180 Letters

brain, in the spermatic or preparing arteries and veins,
and in the umbilical arteries and veins. I shall now,
therefore, for your sake, my learned friend, enter some-
what more at large into my reasons for rejecting the
vulgar notion of the anastomoses, and explain my own
conjectures concerning the mode of transition of the
blood from the minute arteries into the finest veins.

All reasonable medical men, both of ancient and
modern times, have believed in a mutual transfusion,
or accession and recession of the blood between the
arteries and the veins ; and for the sake of permitting
this, they have imagined certain inconspicuous openings,
or obscure foramina, through which the blood flowed
hither and thither, moving out of one vessel and re-
turning to it again. Wherefore it is not wonderful that
Riolanus should in various places find that in the
ancients which is in harmony with the doctrine of a cir-
culation. For a circulation in such sort teaches nothing
more than that the blood flows incessantly from the veins
into the arteries, and from the arteries back again into
the veins. But as the ancients thought that this move-
ment took place indeterminately, by a kind of accident,
in one and the same place, and through the same
channels, I imagine that they therefore found them-
selves compelled to adopt a system of anastomoses,
or fine mouths mutually conjoined, and serving both
systems of vessels indifferently. But the circulation
which I discovered teaches clearly that there is a
necessary outward and backward flow of the blood,
and this at different times and places, and through
other and yet other channels and passages ; that this
flow is determinate also, and for the sake of a certain
end, and is accomplished in virtue of parts contrived
for the purpose Avith consummate forecast and most
admirable art. So that the doctrine of the motion of
the blood from the veins into the arteries, which
antiquity only understood in the way of conjecture,
and which it also spoke of in confused and indefinite

Letters 181

terms, was laid down by me with its assured and
necessary causes, and presents itself to the under-
standing as a thing extremely clear, perfectly well

arranged, and of approved verity. And then, when I
perceived that the blood was transferred from the
veins into the arteries through the medium of the
heart with singular art, and with the aid of an admirable
apparatus of valves, I imagined that the transference
from the extremities of the arteries into those of the
veins could not be effected without some other ad-
mirable artifice, at least wherever there was no trans-
udation through the pores of the flesh. I therefore
held the anastomoses of the ancients as fairly open to
suspicion, both as they nowhere presented themselves
to our eyes, and as no sufficient reason was alleged for
anything of the kind.

Since, then, I find a transit from the arteries into the
veins in the three places which I have above mentioned,
equivalent to the anastomoses of the ancients, and even
affording the farther security against any regurgitation
into the arteries of the blood once delivered to the
veins, and as a mechanism of such a kind is more
elaborate and better suited to the circulation of the
blood. I have therefore thought that the anastomoses
imagined by the ancients were to be rejected. But
you will ask, what is this artifice? what these ducts?
viz. the small arteries, which are always much smaller —
twice, even three times smaller — than the veins which
they accompany, which they approach continually more
and more, and within the tunics of which they are
finally lost. I have been therefore led to conceive that
the blood brought thus between the coats of the veins
advanced for a certain way along them, and that the
same thing took place here which we observe in the
conjunction between the ureters and the bladder, and
of the biliary duct with the duodenum. The ureters
insinuate themselves obliquely and tortuously between
the coats of the bladder, without anything in the

1 82 Letters

nature of an anastomosis, yet in such a manner as
occasionally affords a passage to blood, to pus, and to
calculi ; it is easy, moreover, to fill the bladder through
them with air or water ; but by no effort can you force
anything from the bladder into them. I care not,
however, to make any question here of the etymology
of words ; for I am not of opinion that it is the province
of philosophy to infer aught as to the works of nature
from the signification of words, or to cite anatomical
disquisitions before the grammatical tribunal. Our
business is not so much to inquire what a word properly
signifies, as how it is commonly understood ; for use
and wont as in so many other matters, are greatly
to be considered in the interpretation of words. It
seems to me, therefore, that we are to take especial
care not to employ any unusual words, or any common
ones already familiarly used, in a sense which is not in
accordance with the meaning we purpose to attach to
them. You indeed counsel well when you say, " only
make sure of the thing, call it what you will." But
when we discover that a thing has hitherto been in-
differently or incorrectly explained (as the sequel will
show it to have been in the present case), I do not
think that the old appellation can ever be well applied
to the new fact ; by using the old term you are apt to
mislead where you desire to instruct. I acknowledge,
then, a transit of the blood from the arteries into the
veins, and that occasionally immediate, without any
intervention of soft parts ; but it does not take place
in the manner hitherto believed, and as you yourself
would have it, where you say that anastomoses, correctly
speaking, rather than an anastomosis, were required,
namely, that the vessels may be open on either hand,
and give free passage to the blood hither and thither.
And hence it comes that you fail in the right solution
of the question, when you ask how it happens that with
the arteries as patent or pervious as the veins, the
blood nevertheless flows only from the former into

Letters 183

the latter, never from the latter into the former? For
what you say of the impulse of the blood through the
arteries does not fully solve the difficulty in the present
instance. For if the aorta be tied near the left ventricle
of the heart in a Living animal, and all the blood
removed from the arteries, the veins are still seen full
of blood ; so that it neither moves back spontaneously
into the arteries, nor can it be repelled into these by
any force, whilst even in a dead animal it nevertheless
falls of its own accord through the finest pores of the
flesh and skin from superior into inferior parts. The
passage of the blood into the veins is, indeed, effected
by the impulse in question, and not by any dilatation
of these in the manner of bellows, by which the blood
is drawn towards them ; but there are no anastomoses
of the vessels by conjunction (per copulam), in the way
you mention, none where two vessels meeting are con-
joined by equal mouths. There is only an opening of
the artery into the vein, exactly in the same manner as
the ureter opens into the bladder (and the biliary duct
opens into the jejunum), by which, whilst the flow of
urine is perfectly free towards the bladder, all reflux
into the smaller conduits is effectually prevented ; the
fuller the bladder is, indeed, the more are the sides of
the ureters compressed, and the more effectual is all
ascent of urine in them prevented. Now, on this
hypothesis, it is easy to render a reason for the experi-
ment which I have already mentioned. I add further,
that I can in nowise admit such anastomoses as are
commonly imagined, inasmuch as the arteries being
always much smaller than the veins, it is impossible
that their sides can mutually conjoin in such a way as
will allow of their forming a common meatus ; it seems
matter of necessity that things which join in this way
should be of equal size. Lastly, these vessels having
made a certain circuit, must, at their terminations,
encounter one another ; they would not, as it happens,
proceed straight to the extremities of the body. And

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the veins, on their part, if they were conjoined with the
arteries by mutual inosculations, would necessarily, and
by reason of the continuity of parts, pulsate like the
arteries.

And now, that I may make an end of my writing, I
say, that whilst I think the industry of every one de-
serving of commendation, I do not remember that I
have anywhere bepraised mine own. You, however,
most excellent sir, I conceive have deserved high com-
mendation, both for the care you have bestowed on
your disquisition on the liver of the ox, and for the
judgment you display in your observations. Go on,
therefore, as you are doing, and grace the republic
of letters with the fruits of your genius, for thus will
you render a grateful service to all the learned, and
especially to

Your loving

William Harvey.

Written in London, this 26th of March, 165 1.

LETTER III

To the very excellent John Nardi, of Florence

I should have sent letters to you sooner, but our
public troubles in part, and in part the labour of putting
to press my work "On the Generation of Animals,"
have hindered me from writing. And indeed I, who
receive your works — on the signal success of which
I congratulate you from my heart — and along with
them most kind letters, do but very little to one so
distinguished as yourself in replying by a very short
epistle. I only write at this time that I may tell you
how constantly I think of you, and how truly I store up
in my memory the grateful remembrance of all your
kindnesses and good offices to myself and to my

Letters 185

nephew, when we were each of us severally in Florence.
1 would wish, illustrious sir, to have your news as soon
as convenient : — what you are about yourself, and what
you think of this work of mine ; for I make no case of
the opinions and criticisms of our pretenders to scholar-
ship, who have nothing but levity in their judgments,
and indeed are wont to praise none but their own
productions. As soon as I know that you are well,
however, and that you live not unmindful of us here,
I propose to myself frequently to enjoy this intercourse
by letter, and I shall take care to transmit other books
to you. I pray for many and prosperous years to your
Duke ; and for yourself a long (in/fiipia. Farewell,
most learned sir, and love in return.

Yours, most truly,

William Harvey.
The 15th oi July, 1651.

LETTER IV

In reply to R. Morison, M.D., of Paris

Illustrious Sir, — The reason why your most kind
letter has remained up to this time unanswered is
simply this, that the book of M. Pecquet, upon which
you ask my opinion, did not come into my hands until
towards the end of the past month. It stuck by the
way, I imagine, with some one, who, either through
negligence, or desiring himself to see what was newest,
has for so long a time hindered me of the pleasure
I have had in the perusal. That you may, therefore,
at once and clearly know my opinion of this work,
I say that I greatly commend the author for his assiduity
in dissection, for his dexterity in contriving new experi-
ments, and for the shrewdness which he still evinces in
his remarks upon them. With what labour do we

1 86 Letters

attain to the hidden things of truth when we take the
averments of our senses as the guide which God has
given us for attaining to a knowledge of his works ;
avoiding that specious path on which the eyesight
is dazzled with the brilliancy of mere reasoning, and so
many are led to wrong conclusions, to probabilities
only, and too frequently to sophistical conjectures on
things !

I further congratulate myself on his confirmation of
my views of the circulation of the blood by such lucid
experiments and clear reasons. I only wish he had
observed that the heart has three kinds of motion,
namely, the systole, in which the organ contracts and
expels the blood contained in its cavities, and next,
a movement, the opposite of the former one, in which
the fibres of the heart appropriated to motion are
relaxed. Now these two motions inhere in the sub-
stance of the heart itself, just as they do in all other
muscles. The remaining motion is the diastole, in
which the heart is distended by the blood impelled
from the auricles into the ventricles ; and the ventricles,
thus replete and distended, are stimulated to con-
traction, and this motion always precedes the systole,
which follows immediately afterwards.

With regard to the lacteal veins discovered by Aselli,
and by the further diligence of Pecquet, who discovered
the receptacle or reservoir of the chyle, and traced the
canals thence to the subclavian veins, I shall tell you
freely, since you ask me what I think of them. I had
already, in the course of my dissections, I venture
to say even before Aselli had published his book, 1
observed these white canals, and plenty of milk in
various parts of the body, especially in the glands of
younger animals, as in the mesentery, where glands
abound ; and thence I thought came the pleasant
taste of the thymus in the calf and lamb, which, as
you know, is called the sweetbread in our vernacular

1 Published at Milan in 1622.

Letters 187

gue. But for various reasons, and led by several
experiments, I could never be brought to believe that
that milky fluid was chyle conducted hither from the
intestines, and distributed to all parts of the body for
their nourishment ; but that it was rather nut with
occasionally and by accident, and proceeded from too
ample a supply of nourishment and a peculiar vigour of
concoction ; in virtue of the same law of nature, in
short, as that by which fat, marrow, semen, hair, &c,
are produced ; even as in the due digestion of ulcers
pus is formed, which the nearer it approaches to the
consistency of milk, viz. as it is whiter, smoother, and
more homogeneous, is held more laudable, so that
some of the ancients thought pus and milk were of the
same nature, or nearly allied. Wherefore, although
there can be no question of the existence of the vessels
themselves, still I can by no means agree with Aselli in
considering them as chyliferous vessels, and this especi-
ally for the reasons about to be given, which lead me to
a different conclusion. For the fluid contained in the
lacteal veins appears to me to be pure milk, such as is
found in the lacteal veins [the milk ducts] of the
mammae. Now it does not seem to me very probable
(any more than it does to Auzotius in his letter to
Pecquet) that the milk is chyle, and thus that the
whole body is nourished by means of milk. The
reasons which lead to a contrary conclusion, viz. that
it is chyle, are not of such force as to compel my
assent. I should first desire to have it demonstrated to
me by the clearest reasonings, and the guarantee of
experiments, that the fluid contained in these vessels
was chyle, which, brought hither from the intestines,
supplies nourishment to the whole body. For unless
we are agreed upon the first point, any ulterior, any
more operose, discussion of their nature, is in vain.
But how can these vessels serve as conduits for the
whole of the chyle, or the nourishment of the body,
when we see that they are different in different animals ?

1 88 Letters

In some they proceed to the liver, in others to the
porta only, and in others still to neither of these. In
some creatures they are seen to be extremely numerous
in the pancreas ; in others the thymus is crowded with
them ; in a third class, again, nothing can be seen of
them in either of these organs. In some animals,
indeed, such chyliferous canals are nowhere to be dis-
covered (vide Liceti Epist. xiii, tit. ii, p. 83, et Sen-
nerti Praxeos, lib. v, tit. 2, par. 3, cap. 1); neither do
they exist in any at all times. But the vessels which
serve for nutrition must necessarily both exist in all
animals, and present themselves at all times ; inasmuch
as the waste incurred by the ceaseless efflux of the
spirits, and the wear and tear of the parts of the body,
can only be supplied by as ceaseless a restoration or
nutrition. And then, their very slender calibre seems
to render them not less inadequate to this duty than
their structure seems to unfit them for its performance:
the smaller channels ought plainly to end in larger
ones, these in their turn in channels larger still, and the
whole to concentrate in one great trunk, which should
correspond in its dimensions to the aggregate capacity
of all the branches ; just such an arrangement as may
be seen to exist in the vena portse and its tributaries,
and farther in the trunk of the tree, which is equal
to its roots. Wherefore, if the efferent canals of a fluid
must be equal in dimensions to the afferent canals
of the same fluid, the chyliferous ducts which Pecquet
discovers in the thorax ought at least to equal the two
ureters in dimensions ; otherwise they who drink a
gallon or more of one of the acidulous waters could not
pass off all this fluid in so short a space of time by
these vessels into the bladder. And truly, when we
see the matter of the urine passing thus copiously
through the appropriate channels, I do not see how
these veins could preserve their milky colour, and the
urine all the while remain without a tinge of whiteness.
I add, too, that the chyle is neither in all animals,

Letters 189

nor at all times, of the consistency and colour of milk ;
and therefore did these vessels carry chyle, they could
not always (which nevertheless they do) contain a white
fluid in their interior, but would sometimes be coloured
yellow, green, or of some other hue (in the same way
as the urine is affected, and acquires different colours
from eating rhubarb, asparagus, rigs, &c.) ; or otherwise,
when large quantities of mineral water were drunk, they
would be deprived of almost all colour. Besides, did
that white matter pass from the intestines into those
canals, or were it attracted from the intestines, the
same fluid ought certainly to be discovered somewhere
within the intestines themselves, or in their spongy
tunics ; for it does not seem probable that any fluid by
bare and rapid percolation of the intestines could
assume a new nature, and be changed into milk.
Moreover, were the chyle only filtered through the
tunics of the intestines, it ought surely to retain some
traces of its original nature, and resemble in colour and
smell the fluid contained in the intestines ; it ought to
smell offensively at least; for whatever is contained
in the intestines is tinged with bile, and smells un-
pleasantly. Some have consequently thought that the
body was nourished by means of chyle raised into
attenuated vapour, because vapours exhaling in the
alembic, even from fcetid matters, often do not smell
amiss.

The learned Pecquet ascribes the motion of this
milky fluid to respiration. For my own part, though
strongly tempted to do otherwise, I shall say nothing
upon this topic until we are agreed as to what the fluid
is. But were we to concede the point (which Pecquet
takes for granted without any sufficient reason in the
shape of argument), that chyle was continually trans-
ported by the canals in question from the intestines to
the subclavian veins, in which the vessels he has lately-
discovered terminate, w r e should have to say that the
chyle before reaching the heart was mixed with the

1 90 Letters

blood which is about to enter the right side of the organ,
and that it there obtains a further concoction. But
what, some one might with as good reason ask, should
hinder it from passing into the porta, then into the liver,
and thence into the cava, in conformity with the arrange-
ment which Aselli and others are said to have found ?
Why, indeed, should we not as well believe that the
chyle enters the mouths of the mesenteric veins, and in
this way becomes immediately mingled with the blood,
where it might receive digestion and perfection from
the heat, and serve for the nutrition of all the parts ?
For the heart itself can be accounted of higher import-
ance than other parts, can be termed the source of
heat and of life, upon no other grounds than as it
contains a larger quantity of blood in its cavities,
where, as Aristotle says, the blood is not contained
in veins as it is in other parts, but in an ample sinus
and cistern, as it were. And that the thing is so in
fact, I find an argument in the distribution of innumer-
able arteries and veins to the intestines, more than to
any other part of the body, in the same way as the
uterus abounds with blood-vessels during the period of
pregnancy. For nature never acts inconsiderately. In
all the red-blooded animals, consequently, which require
[abundant] nourishment, we find a copious distribution
of mesenteric vessels ; but lacteal veins we discover in
but a few, and even in these not constantly. Where-
fore, if we are to judge of the uses of parts as we meet
with them in general and in the greater number of
animals, beyond all doubt those filaments of a white
colour, and very like the fibres of a spider's web, are
not instituted for the purpose of transporting nourish-
ment, neither is the fluid they contain to be designated
by the name of chyle ; the mesenteric vessels are rather
destined to the duty in question. Because, of that
whence an animal is constituted, by that must it neces-
sarily grow, and by that consequently be nourished ; for
the nutritive and augmentative faculties, or nutrition

Letters 191

and growth, are essentially the same. An animal,
therefore, naturally grows in the same manner as it
receives immediate nutriment from the first. Now
it is a most certain fact (as I have shown elsewhere)
that the embryos of all red-blooded animals are
nourished by means of the umbilical vessels from
the mother, and this in virtue of the circulation of
the blood. They are not nourished, however, imme-
diately by the blood, as many have imagined, but after
the manner of the chick in ovo, which is first nourished
by the albumen, and then by the vitellus, which is
finally drawn into and included within the abdomen
of the chick. All the umbilical vessels, however, are
inserted into the liver, or at all events pass through it,
even in those animals whose umbilical vessels enter the
vena porta?, as in the chick, in which the vessels proceed-
ing from the yelk always so terminate. In the selfsame
way, therefore, as the chick is nourished from a
nutriment, (viz. the albumen and vitellus,) previously
prepared, even so does it continue to be nourished
through the whole course of its independent existence.
And the same thing, as I have elsewhere shown, is
common to all embryos whatsoever : the nourishment,
mingled with the blood, is transmitted through their
veins to the heart, whence moving on by the arteries,
it is carried to every part of the body. The fcetus
when born, when thrown upon its own resources, and
no longer immediately nourished by the mother, makes
use of its stomach and intestines just as the chick
makes use of the contents of the egg, and vegetables
make use of the ground whence they derive concocted
nutriment. For even as the chick at the commence-
ment obtained its nourishment from the egg, by means
of the umbilical vessels (arteries and veins) and the
circulation of the blood, so does it subsequently, and
when it has escaped from the shell, receive nourishment
by the mesenteric veins ; so that in either way the chy!e
passes through the same channels, and takes its route

192 Letters

by the same path through the liver. Nor do I see any
reason why the route by which the chyle is carried in
one animal should not be that by which it is carried
in all animals whatsoever ; nor indeed, if a circulation
of the blood be necessary in this matter, as it really is,
that there is any need for inventing another way.

I must say that I greatly prize the industry of the
learned Pecquet, and make much of the receptacle
which he has discovered ; still it does not present itself
to me as of such importance as to force me from the
opinion I have already given ; for I have myself found
several receptacles of milk in young animals ; and in
the human embryo I have found the thymus so dis-
tended with milk, that suspicions of an imposthume
were at first sight excited, and I was disposed to believe
that the lungs were in a state of suppuration, for the
mass of the thymus looked actually larger than the
lungs themselves. Frequently, too, I have found a
quantity of milk in the nipples of new-born infants,
as also in the breasts of young men who were very
lusty. I have also met with a receptacle full of milk in
the body of a fat and large deer, in the situation where
Pecquet indicates his receptacle, of such a size that
it might readily have been compared to the abomasus,
or read of the animal.

These observations, learned sir, have I made at this
time in answer to your letter, that I might show my
readiness to comply with your wishes.

Pray present my most kind wishes to Dr. Pecquet
and to Dr. Gayant. Farewell, and believe me to be,
very affectionately and respectfully,

Yours,

William Harvey.

London, the 2Sth April, 1652.

Letters 193

LETTER V

To the most excellent and learned John Nardi,
of Florence

Distinguished and accomplished Sir, — The arrival
of your letter lately gave me the liveliest pleasure, and
the receipt at the same time of your learned comments
upon Lucretius satisfied me that you are not only living
and well, but that you arc at work among the sacred
things of Apollo. I do indeed rejoice to see truly
learned men everywhere illustrating the republic of
letters, even in the present age, in which the crowd
of foolish scribblers is scarcely less than the swarms of
flies in the height of summer, and threatens with their
crude and flimsy productions to stifle us as with smoke.
Among other things that delighted me greatly in your
book was that part where I see you ascribe plague
almost to the same efficient cause as I do animal
generation. Still it must be confessed that it is difficult
to explain how the idea, or form, or vital principle
should be transfused from the genitor to the genetrix,
and from her transmitted to the conception or ovum,
and thence to the foetus, and in this produce not only
an image of the genitor, or an external species, but also
various peculiarities or accidents, such as disposition,
vices, hereditary diseases, naevi or mother-marks, &c.
All of these accidents must inhere in the geniture and
semen, and accompany that specific thing, by whatever
name you call it, from which an animal is not only
produced, but by which it is afterwards governed, and
to the end of its life preserved. As all this, I say, is
not readily accounted for, so do I hold it scarcely less
difficult to conceive how pestilence or leprosy should be
communicated to a distance by contagion, by a zymotic
element contained in woollen or linen things, household
furniture, even the walls of a house, cement, rubbish,
p 262

194 Letters

&c, as we find it stated in the fourteenth chapter of
Leviticus. How, I ask, can contagion, long lurking in
such things, leave them in fine, and after a long lapse of
time produce its like in another body ? Nor in one or
two only, but in many, without respect of strength,
sex, age, temperament, or mode of life, and with such
violence that the evil can by no art be stayed or
mitigated. Truly it does not seem less likely that
form, or soul, or idea, whether this be held substan-
tive or accidental, should be transferred to something
else, whence an animal at length emerges, all as if it
had been produced on purpose, and to a certain end,
with foresight, intelligence, and divine art.

These are among the number of more abstruse
matters, and demand your ingenuity, most learned
Nardi. Nor need you plead in excuse your advanced
life; I myself, although verging on my eightieth year,
and sorely failed in bodily strength, nevertheless feel
my mind still vigorous, so that I continue to give my-
self up with the greatest pleasure to studies of this kind.
I send you along with these, three books upon the sub-
ject you name. 1 If you will mention my name to his
Serene Highness the Duke of Tuscany, with thankful-
ness for the distinguished honour he did me when I
was formerly in Florence, and add my wishes for
his safety and prosperity, you will do a very kind
thing to

Your devoted and very attached friend,

William Harvey.

30th Nov. 1653.

[' Nardi had written to Harvey requesting him to select a few of the
publications which should give a faithful narrative of the distractions
that had but lately agitated England.]

Letters 195

LETTER VI

To John Daniel Ilorst, principal Physician of
Hesse-Darmstadt

Excellent Sir, — I am much pleased to find, that
in spite of the long time that has passed, and the dis-
tance that separates us, you have not yet lost me from
your memory, and I could wish that it lay in my power
to answer all your inquiries. But, indeed, my age does
not permit me to have this pleasure, for I am not only
far stricken in years, but am afflicted with more and
more indifferent health. With regard to the opinions
of Riolanus, and his decision as to the circulation of
the blood, it is very obvious that he makes vast throes
in the production of vast trifles; nor do I see that he
has as yet satisfied a single individual with his figments.
Slegel wrote well and modestly, and, had the fates
allowed, would undoubtedly have answered his argu-
ments and reproaches also. But Slegel as I learn, and
grieve to learn, died some months ago. As to what
you ask of me, in reference to the so-called lacteal
veins and thoracic ducts, I reply, that it requires good
eyes, and a mind free from other anxieties, to come to
any definite conclusion in regard to these extremely
minute vessels; to me, however, as 1 have just said,
neither of these requisites is given. About two years
ago, when asked my opinion on the same subject, I
replied at length, and to the effect that it was not
sufficiently determined whether it was chyle or one of
the thicker constituents of milk, destined speedily to
pass into fat, which flowed in these white vessels ; and
further that the vessels themselves are wanting in several
animals, namely, birds and fishes, though it seems most
probable that these creatures are nourished upon the
same principles as quadrupeds ; nor can any sufficient
reason be rendered why in the embryo all nutriment,

196

Letters

carried by the umbilical vein, should pass through the
liver, but that this should not happen when the foetus
is freed lrom the prison of the womb, and made inde-
pendent. Besides, the thoracic duct itself, and the
orifice by which it communicates with the subclavian
vein, appear too small and narrow to suffice for the
transmission of all the supplies required by the body.
And I have asked myself farther, why such numbers of
blood-vessels, arteries, and veins should be sent to the
intestines if there were nothing to be brought back
from thence? especially as these are mere membraneous
parts, and on this account require a smaller supply of
blood.

These and other observations of the same tenor I
have already made, — not as being obstinately wedded
to my own opinion, but that I might find out what
could reasonably be urged to the contrary by the
advocates of the new views. I am ready to award
the highest praise to Pecquet and others for their
singular industry in searching out the truth ; nor do
I doubt but that many things still lie hidden in
Democritus's well that are destined to be drawn up
into the light by the indefatigable diligence of coming
ages. So much do I say at this time, which, I trust,
with your known kindness, you will take in good part.
Farewell, learned friend; live happily, and hold me
always

Yours, most affectionately,

William Harvey.

London, 1st February, 1654-5.

Letters 197

LETTER VII

To the distinguished and /earned John Dan. Horst,
principal Physician at the Court of Hesse- Darmstadt

Most EXCELLENT Sir, — Advanced age, which unfits
us for the investigation of novel subtleties, and the
mind which inclines to repose after the fatigues of
lengthened labours, prevent me from mixing myself
up with the investigation of these new and difficult
questions : so far am I from courting the office of
umpire in this dispute ! I was anxious to do you a
pleasure lately, when, in reply to your request, I sent
you the substance of what I had formerly written to a
Parisian physician as my ideas on the lacteal veins and
thoracic ducts. 1 Not, indeed, that I was certain of the
opinion then delivered, but that I might place these
objections such as they were before those who fancy
that when they have made a certain progress in discovery
all is revealed by them.

With reference to your letters in reply, however, and
in so far as the collection of milky fluid in the vessels
of Aselli is concerned, 1 have not ascribed it to accident,
and as if there were not certain assignable causes for its
existence ; but I have denied that it was found at all
times in all animals, as the constant tenor of nutrition
would seem to require. Nor is it requisite that a matter,
already thin and much diluted, and which is to become
fat after the ulterior concoction, should concrete in the
dead animal. The instance of pus, I have adduced only
incidentally and collaterally. The hinge upon which our
whole discussion turns is the assumption that the fluid
contained in the lacteal vessels of Aselli is chyle. This
position I certainly do not think you demonstrate satis-
factorily, when you say that chyle must be educed from

[' Pecquet described the duct as dividing into two branches, one for
e-»ch subclavian vein.]

198

Letters

the intestines, and that it can by no means be carried
off by the arteries, veins, or nerves ; and thence conclude
that this function must be performed by the lacteals.
I, however, can see no reason wherefore the innumer-
able veins which traverse the intestines at every point,
and return to the heart the blood which they have
received from the arteries, should not, at the same
time, also suck up the chyle which penetrates the parts,
and so transmit it to the heart ; and this the rather, as
it seems probable that some chyle passes immediately
from the stomach before its contents have escaped into
the intestines, (or how account for the rapid recovery of
the spirits and strength in cases of fainting ?) although
no lacteals are distributed to the stomach.

With regard to the letter which you inform me you
have addressed to Bartholin, I do not doubt of his
replying to you as you desire ; nor is there any occasion
wherefore I should trouble you farther on that topic.
I only say (keeping silence as to any other channels),
that the nutritive juice might be as readily transported
by the uterine arteries, and distilled into the uterus,
as watery fluid is carried by the emulgent arteries
to the kidneys. Nor can this juice be spoken of as
preternatural ; neither ought it to be compared to the
vagitus uterinus, seeing that in pregnant women the
fluid is always present, the vagitus an incident of very
rare occurrence. What you say of the excrements of
new-born infants differing from those of the child that
has once tasted milk I do not admit ; for except in the
particular of colour, I scarcely perceive any difference
between them, and conceive that the black hue may
fairly be ascribed to the long stay of the fasces in the
bowels.

Your proposal that I should attempt a solution of
the true use of these newly-discovered ducts, is an
undertaking of greater difficulty than comports with the
old man far advanced in years, and occupied with other
cares : nor can such a task be well entrusted to several

Letters 199

hands, were even such assistance as you indicate at my
command 1 ; but it is not; Highmore does not live in
our neighbourhood, and I have not seen him f
period of some seven years. So much I write at present,
most learned sir, trusting it will he taken in good part
as coming from yours,

Wry sincerely and respectfully,

William Harvey.

London, 13th July, 1655 (old style).

LETTER VIII

To the very learned John Xardi, of Florence, a man
distinguished alike for his virtues, life, and erudition

Mosi excellent Sir, — I lately received your
most agreeable letter, from which I am equally de-
lighted to learn that you are well, that you go on
prosperously, and labour strenuously in our chosen
studies. But I am not informed whether my letter in
reply to yours, along with a few books forwarded at the
same time, have come to hand or not. I should be
happy to have news on this head at your earliest con-
venience, and also to be made acquainted with the
progress you make in your " Noctes Geniales," and
other contemplated works. For I am used to solace
my declining years, and to refresh my understanding,
jaded with the trifles of every-day life, by reading the
best works of this description. I have again to return
you my best thanks for your friendly offices to my
nephew when at Florence in former years ; and on the
arrival in Italy of another of my nephews (who is the

[' Horst, in the letter to which the above is an answer, had said,
" Xobilissime Harveie, &c. Most noble Harvey, I only wish \ou could
snatch the leisure to explain to the world the true use of these lymphatic
and thoracic ducts. You have many illustrious scholars, particularly
Highmore, with whose assistance it were easy to solve all doubts."]

200 Letters

bearer of this letter), I entreat you very earnestly that
you will be pleased most kindly to favour him with any
assistance or advice of which he may stand in need.
For thus will you indeed do that which will be very
gratifying to me. Farewell, most accomplished sir, and
deign to cherish the memory of our friendship, as does
most truly the admirer of all your virtues,

William Harvey.

London, Oct. 25th, in the year of the Christian era, 1655.

LETTER IX

To the distinguished and accomplished John Vlackveld,
Physician at Harlem

Learned Sir, — Your much esteemed letter reached
me safely, in which you not only exhibit your kind
consideration of me, but display a singular zeal in the
cultivation of our art.

It is even so. Nature is nowhere accustomed more
openly to display her secret mysteries than in cases
where she shows traces of her workings apart from the
beaten path ; nor is there any better way to advance
the proper practice of medicine than to give our minds
to the discovery of the usual law of nature, by the
careful investigation of cases of rarer forms of disease.
For it has been found in almost all things, that what
they contain of useful or of applicable, is hardly per-
ceived unless we are deprived of them, or they become
deranged in some way. The case of the plasterer x to
which you refer is indeed a curious one, and might
supply a text for a lengthened commentary by way of

[' Valkveld bad sent to Harvey the particulars of a case of diseased
bladder, in which that viscus was found after death not larger than " a
wainut with the husk,'' its walls as thick as the thickness of the little
finger, and its inner suiface ulcerated.]

Letters 20 1

illustration. But it is in vain that you apply the spur
to urge me, at my present age, not mature merely but
declining, to gird myself for any new investigation.
For I now consider myself entitled to my discharge
from duty. It will, however, always he a pleasant sight
for me to see distinguished men like yourself engaged
in this honorable arena. Farewell, most learned sir,
and whatever you do, still love

Yours, most respectfully,

William Harvey.

London, 24th April, 1657.

APPENDIX

THE ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION

OF THK BODY OK

THOMAS PARR

WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO YEARS

MADE r.Y

WILLIAM HARVEY

OTHERS OF THE KIND'S PHYSICIANS BEING PRESENT

ON THK l6TH OF NOVEMBER, THE ANNIVERSARY OF TUB

BIRTHDAY OF II EU SERENE HIGHNESS

HENRIETTA MARIA, QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE

AND IRELAND

205

[This account first appeared in the work of Dr. Betts, entitled :
"De Ortu et Natura Sanguinis," 8vo, London, 1669, the MS.
having been presented to Betts by Mr. Michael Harvey, nephew
of the author, with whom Betts was on terms of intimacy.]

2c6

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V

S S,

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(m[ LIBRARY]*]

+

ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION OF THE
HODY OF THOMAS PARR

Thomas Parr, a poor countryman, born near
VVinnington, in the county of Salop, died on the 14th
of November, in the year of grace 1635, after having
lived one hundred and fifty-two years and nine months,
and survived nine princes. This poor man, having
been visited by the illustrious Earl of Arundel when
he chanced to have business in these parts, (his lord-
ship being moved to the visit by the fame of a thing
so incredible,) was brought by him from the country to
London ; and, having been most kindly treated by the
earl both on the journey and during a residence in his
own house, was presented as a remarkable sight to his
Majesty the King.

Having made an examination of the body of this
aged individual, by command of his Majesty, several
of whose principal physicians were present, the following
particulars were noted :

The body was muscular, the chest hairy, and the
hair on the fore-arms still black ; the legs, however,
were without hair, and smooth.

The organs of generation were healthy, the penis
neither retracted nor extenuated, nor the scrotum filled
with any serous infiltration, as happens so commonly
among the decrepid ; the testes, too, were sound and
large ; so that it seemed not improbable that the
common report was true, viz. that he did public
penance under a conviction for incontinence, after he
had passed his hundredth year ; and his wife, whom

207

208 Anatomical Examination

he had married as a widow in his hundred-and-twentieth
year, did not deny that he had intercourse with her
after the manner of other husbands with their wives,
nor until about twelve years back had he ceased to
embrace her frequently.

The chest was broad and ample ; the lungs, nowise
fungous, adhered, especially on the right side, by
fibrous bands to the ribs. They were much loaded
with blood, as we find them in cases of peripneumony,
so that until the blood was squeezed out they looked
rather blackish. Shortly before his death I had ob-
served that the face was livid, and he suffered from
difficult breathing and orthopnoea. This was the reason
why the axillae and chest continued to retain their heat
long after his death : this and other signs that present
themselves in cases of death from suffocation were
observed in the body.

We judged, indeed, that he had died suffocated,
through inability to breathe, and this view was confirmed
by all the physicians present, and reported to the King.
When the blood was expressed, and the lungs were
wiped, their substance was beheld of a white and
almost milky hue.

The heart was large, and thick, and fibrous, and
contained a considerable quantity of adhering fat, both
in its circumference and over its septum. The blood
in the heart, of a black colour, was dilute, and scarcely
coagulated ; in the right ventricle alone some small
clots were discovered.

In raising the sternum, the cartilages of the ribs were
not found harder or converted into bone in any greater
degree than they are in ordinary men ; on the contrary,
they were soft and flexible.

The intestines were perfectly sound, fleshy, and
strong, and so was the stomach : the small intestines
presented several constrictions, like rings, and were
muscular. Whence it came that, by day or night,
observing no rules or regular times for eating, he was

of Thomas Parr 209

y to discuss any kind of eatable th.it was at hand ;
his ordinary diet consisting of sub-rancid cheese, and
milk in every form, coarse and hard bread, and small
drink, generally sour whey. On this sorry fare, but
living in his home, free from care, did this poor man
attain to such length of days. He even ate something
about midnight shortly before his death.

The kidneys were bedded in fat, and in themselves
sufficiently healthy ; on their anterior aspects, however,
they contained several small watery abscesses or serous
collections, one of which, the size of a hen's egg, con-
taining a yellow fluid in a proper cyst, had made a
rounded depression in the substance of the kidney.
To this some were disposed to ascribe the suppression
of urine under which the old man had laboured shortly
before his death ; whilst others, and with greater show
of likelihood, ascribed it to the great regurgitation of
serum upon the lungs.

There was no appearance of stone either in the
kidneys or bladder.

The mesentery was loaded with fat, and the colon,
with the omentum, which was likewise fat, was attached
to the liver, near the fundus of the gall-bladder ; in
like manner the colon was adherent from this point
posteriorly with the peritoneum.

The viscera were healthy : they only looked some-
what white externally, as they would have done had
they been parboiled ; internally they were (like the
blood) of the colour of dark gore.

The spleen was very small, scarcely equalling one of
the kidneys in size.

All the internal parts, in a word, appeared so healthy,
that had nothing happened to interfere with the old
man's habits of life, he might perhaps have escaped
paying the debt due to nature for some little time
longer.

The cause of death seemed fairly referrible to a
sudden change in the non-naturals, the chief mischief

Q 262

210 Anatomical Examination

being connected with the change of air, which through
the whole course of life had been inhaled of perfect
purity, — light, cool, and mobile, whereby the pnecordia
and lungs were more freely ventilated and cooled ; but
in this great advantage, in this grand cherisher of life
this city is especially destitute ; a city whose grand
characteristic is an immense concourse of men and
animals, and where ditches abound, and filth and offal
lie scattered about, to say nothing of the smoke
engendered by the general use of sulphureous coal
as fuel, whereby the air is at all times rendered heavy,
but much more so in the autumn than at any other
season. Such an atmosphere could not have been
found otherwise than insalubrious to one coming from
the open, sunny, and healthy region of Salop ; it must
have been especially so to one already aged and infirm.

And then for one hitherto used to live on food
unvaried in kind, and very simple in its nature, to be
set at a table loaded with variety of viands, and tempted
not only to eat more than wont, but to partake of strong
drink, it must needs fall out that the functions of all
the natural organs would become deranged. Whence
the stomach at length failing, and the excretions long
retained, the work of concoction proceeding languidly,
the liver getting loaded, the blood stagnating in the
veins, the spirits frozen, the heart, the source of life,
oppressed, the lungs infarcted, and made impervious
to the ambient air, the general habit rendered more
compact, so that it could no longer exhale or perspire
— no wonder that the soul, little content with such a
prison, took its flight.

The brain was healthy, very firm and hard to the
touch ; hence, shortly before his death, although he
had been blind for twenty years, he heard extremely
well, understood all that was said to him, answered
immediately to questions, and had perfect apprehension
of any matter in hand ; he was also accustomed to walk
about, slightly supported between two persons. His

of Thomas Parr 21 1

memory, however, was greatly impaired, so that he
scarcely recollected anything of what had happened
to him when he was a young man, nothing of public
incidents, or of the kings or nobles who had made a
figure, or of the wars or troubles of his earlier life, or
of the manners of society, or of the prices of things —
in a word, of any of the ordinary incidents which men
are wont to retain in their memories. He only recol-
lected the events of the last few years. Nevertheless,
he was accustomed, even in his hundred and thirtieth
year, to engage lustily in every kind of agricultural
labour, whereby he earned his bread, and he had
even then the strength required to thrash the corn.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF WILLIAM HARVEY, M.D.

Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court

of Canterbury

In the name of the Almighty and Eternal God
Amen I William Harvey of London Doctor of
Physicke doe by these presents make and ordaine this
my last Will and testament in manner and forme
following Revoking hereby all former and other wills
and testaments whatsoever Imprimis I doe most
humbly render my soule to Him that gave it and to
my blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus and my
bodie to the Earth to be buried at the discretion of
my executor herein after named The personall estate
which at the time of my decease I shalbe in any way
possessed of either in Law or equitie be it in goods
householdstuffe readie moneys debts duties arrearages
of rents or any other wayes whatsoever and whereof I
shall not by this present will or by some Codicill to
be hereunto annexed make a particular gift and dis-
position I doe after my debts Funeralls and Legacies
paid and discharged give and bequeath the same
vnto my loving brother Mr. Eliab Harvey merchant
of London whome I make Executor of this my last
will and testament And whereas I have lately pur-
chased certaine lands in Northamptonshire or there-
abouts commonly knoivne by the name of Oxon
grounds and formerly belonging vnto to the Earl of
Manchester and certaine other grounds in Leicester-
shire commonly called or knowne by the name of

212

The Will of Harvey 213

T.aron Parke and sometime heretofore belonging vnto
Sir Henry Hastings Knight both which purchases were
made in the name of several persons nominated
and trusted by me and by two several] deeds of
declaracon vnder the handes and seales of all persons
any wave parties or privies to the said trusts are
declared to be rirst vpon trust and to the intent that
I should be permitted to enioye all the rents and
profits and the benefit of the collaterall securitie during
my life and from and after my decease Then upon
trust and for the benefit of such person and persons
and of and for such estate and estates and Interests
And for raysing and payment of such summe and
summes of Money Rents Charges Annuities and yearly
payments to and for such purposes as from time to
time by any writing or writings to be by me signed
and sealed in the presence of Two or more credible
witnesses or by my last will and testament in writing
should declare limit direct or appoint And further in
trust that the said Mannors and lands and everie part
thereof together with the Collaterall securitie should
be assigned conveyed and assured vnto such persons
and for suche Estates as the same should by me be
limited and directed charged and chargeable never-
theles with all Annuities rents and summes of money
by me limited and appointed if any such shalbe And
in default of such appointment then to Eliab Harvey
his heires executors and Assignes or to such as he
or they shall nominate as by the said two deeds of
declaracon both of them bearing date the tenth day
of July in the year of our Lord God one Thousand
sixe hundred Fiftie and one more at large it doth
appeare I doe now hereby declare limit direct and
appoint that with all convenient speed after my decease
there shalbe raised satisfied and paid these severall
summes of money Rents Charges and Annuities herein
after expressed and likewise all such other summes of
Money Rents Charges or Annuities which at any time

214 The Will of Harvey

hereafter in any Codicill to be hereunto annexed shall
happen to be limited or expressed And first I appoint
so much money to be raised and laid out vpon that
building which I have already begun to erect within
the Colledge of Physicians in London as will serve to
finish the same according to the designe already made
Item I give and bequeath vnto my lo sister in Law
Mrs Eliab Harvey one hundred pounds to buy some-
thing to keepe in remembrance of me Item I give
to my Niece Mary Pratt all that Linnen householdstuffe
and furniture which I have at Coome neere Croydon
for the vse of Will Foulkes and to whom his keeping
shalbe assigned after her death or before me at any
time Item I give vnto my Niece Mary West and
her daughter Amy West halfe the Linnen I shall leave
at London in my chests and Chambers together with
all my plate excepting my Coffey pot Item I give
to my lo sister Eliab all the other halfe of my Linnen
which I shall leave behind me Item I give to my
lo sister Daniell at Lambeth and to everie one of her
children severally the summe of fiftie pounds Item
I give to my lo Coosin Mr Heneage Finch for his
paines counsell and advice about the contriving of this
my will one hundred pounds Item I give to all my
little Godchildren Nieces and Nephews severally to
everie one Fiftie pounds Item I give and bequeath
to the towne of Foulkestone where I was borne two
hundred pounds to be bestowed by the advice of the
Mayor thereof and my Executor for the best vse of
the poore Item I give to the poore of Christ
hospitall in Smithfield thirtie pounds Item I give
to Will Harvey my godsonne the sonne of my brother
Mich Harvey deceased one hundred pounds and to
his brother Michaell Fiftie pounds Item I give to
my Nephew Tho Cullen and his children one hundred
pounds and to his brother my godsonne Will Cullen
one hundred pounds Item I give to my Nephew
Jhon Harvey the sonne of my lo brother Tho Harvey

The Will of 1 [arvey 215

deceased two hundred pounds Item I give to my
Servant John Raby for his diligence in my and

sicknesse twentie pounds And to Alice Garth my
Servant Tenne pounds over and above what I am
already owing unto her by my bill which was h< t
mistresses legacie Item I give among the poor
children of Amy Rigdon daughter of my lo vncle
Mr Tho Halke twentie pounds Item among other
my poorest kindred one hundred pounds to be dis-
tributed at the appointment of my Executor Item I
give among the servants of my sister I )an at my
Funeralls Five pounds And likewise among the ser-
vants of my Nephew Dan Harvey at Coome as much
Item I give to my Cousin Mary Tomes Fifty pounds
Item I give to my lo Friend Mr Prestwood one
hundred pounds Item I give to everie one of my
lo brother Eliab his sonnes and daughters severally
Fiftie pounds apiece All which legacies and gifts
aforesaid are chiefly to buy something to keepe in
remembrance of me Item I give among the servants
of my brother Eliab which shalbe dwelling with him
at the time of my decease tenne pounds Furthermore
I give and bequeath vnto my Sister Eliabs Sister Mrs
Coventrey a widowe during her natural life the yearly
rent or summe of twentie pounds Item I give to
my Niece Mary West during her naturall life the yearly
rent or summe of Fortie pounds Item I give for the
vse and behoofe and better ordering of Will Foulkes
for and during the term of his life vnto my Niece Mary
Pratt the yearly rent of tenne pounds which summe if
it happen my said Niece shall dye before him I desire
may be paid to them to whome his keeping shalbe
appointed Item I will that the twentie pounds which
I yearly allowe him my brother Galen Browne may
be continued as a legacie from his sister during his
naturall life Item 1 will that the payments to Mr
Samuel Fentons children out of the profits of Buckholt
Lease be orderly performed as my deere deceased lo

216 The Will of Harvey

wife gave order so long as that lease shall stand good
Item I give vnto Alice Garth during her naturall life
the yearly rent or summe of twentie pounds Item To
John Raby during his naturall life sixteene pounds
yearly rent All which yearly rents or summes to be
paid halfe yearly at the two most vsuall feasts in the
yeare viz Michaelmas and our Lady day without any
deduction for or by reason of any manner of taxes
to be any way hereafter imposed The first payment
of all the said rents or Annuities respectively to beginne
at such of those feasts which shall first happen next
after my decease Thus I give the remainder of my
lands vnto my lo brother Eliab and his heires All
my legacies and gifts &c. being performed and dis-
charged Touching my bookes and householdstuffe
Pictures and apparell of which I have not already
disposed I give to the Colledge of Physicians all my
bookes and papers and my best Persia long Carpet
and my blue sattin imbroyedyed Cushion one paire of
brasse Andirons with fireshovell and tongues of brasse
for the ornament of the meeting roome I have erected
for that purpose Item I give my velvet gowne to
my lo friend Mr Doctor Scarbrough desiring him and
my lo friend Mr Doctor Ent to looke over those
scattered remnant of my poore Librarie and what
bookes papers or rare collections they shall thinke fit
to present to the Colledge and the rest to be Sold
and with the money buy better And for their paines
I give to Mr Doctor Ent all the presses and shelves
he please to make use of and five pounds to buy him
a ring to keepe or weare in remembrance of me And
to Dr Scarbrough All my little silver instruments of
surgerie Item I give all my Chamber furniture tables
bed bedding hangings which I have at Lambeth to my
Sister Dan and her daughter Sarah And all that at
London to my lo Sister Eliab and her daughter or
my godsonne Eliab as she shall appoint Lastly I
desire my executor to assigne over the custode of

The Will of Harvey 217

Will Fowkes after the death of my Niece Mary Pratt
if she happen to dye before him vnto the Sister of
the said William my Niece Mary West Thus I have
finished my last Will in three pages two of them
written with own hand and my name subscribed to
everie one with my hand and seal to the last

Will Harvey

Signed sealed and published as the last will and
testament of me William Harvey In the presence of
us Edward Dering Henneage Finch Richard Flud
Francis Finche Item I have since written a Codicill
with my owne hand in a sheet of paper to be added
hereto with my name thereto subscribed and my seale.

Itkm I will that the sumes and charges here specified
be added and annexed vnto my last will and testament
published heretofore in the presence of Sir Edward
Bering and Mr. Henneage Finch and others and as a
Codicill by my Executor in like manner to be per-
formed whereby I will and bequeath to John Denn
sonne of Vincent Denne the summe of thirtie pounds
Item to my good friend Mr Tho Hobbs to buy some-
thing to keepe in remembrance of me tenne pounds
and to Mr Kennersley in like manner twentie pounds
Item what moneys shalbe due to me from Mr. Hen
Thompson his fees being discharged I give to my
friend Mr Prestwood Item what money is of mine
viz one hundred pounds in the hands of my Cosin
Rigdon I give halfe thereof to him towards the marriage
of his niece and the other halfe to be given to Mrs
Coventrey for her sonne Walter when he shall come of
yeares and for vse my Cosin Rigdon giving securitie I
would he should pay none Item what money shalbe
due to me and Alice Garth my servant on a pawne
now in the hands of Mr Prestwood I will after my
decease shall all be given my said servant for her
diligence about me in my siknesse and service both
interest and principall Item if in case it so fall out

218 The Will of Harvey

that my good friend Mrs Coventrey during her widow-
hood shall not dyet on freecost with my brother or
Sister Eliab Harvey Then I will and bequeath to her
one hundred marke yearly during her widowhood
Item I will and bequeath to my loving Cosin Mr
Henneage Finch (more than heretofore) to be for my
godsonne Will Finche one hundred pounds Item I
will and bequeath yearly during her life a rent of
thirtie pounds vnto Mrs Jane Nevison Widdowe in case
she shall not preferre her selfe in marriage to be paid
quarterly by even porcons the first to beginn at Christ-
mas Michaelmas or Lady day or Midsummer which
first happens after my decease Item I give to my
Goddaughter Mrs Eliz Glover daughter of my Cosin
Toomes the yearly rent of tenne pounds from my
decease vnto the end of five years. Item to her
brother Mr Rich Toomes thirty pounds as a legacie
Item I give to John Cullen sonne of Tho Cullen
deceased all what I have formerly given his father and
more one hundred pounds Item I will that what
I have bequeathed to my Niece Mary West be given
to her husband my Cosin Rob West for his daughter
Amy West Item what should have bene to my Sister
Dan deceased I will be given my lo Niece her daughter
in Law Item I give my Cosin Mrs Mary Ranton
fortie pounds to buy something to keep in remembrance
of me Item to my nephews Michaell and Will the
sonnes of my brother Mich one hundred pounds to
either of them Item all the furniture of my chamber
and all the hangings I give to my godsonne Mr Eliab
Harvey at his marriage and all my red damaske furni-
ture and plate to my Cosin Mary Harvey Item I give
my best velvet gowne to Doctor Scarbrowe.

Will Harvey.

Memorandum that upon Sunday the twentie eighth
day of December in the yeare of our Lord one thousand
sixe hundred fiftie sixe 1 did againe peruse my last will

The Will of Harvey 219

which formerly conteined three pages and hath now
this fourth page .idded to it. And I doe now this
■nt Sunday December 28 1656 publish and declare
these foure pages whereof the three last are written with
my owne hand to be my last will In the presence of
Henneage Finch John Raby.

This will with the Codicill annexed was proved at
London on the second day of May In the yeare of our
Lord God one Thousand six hundred fiftie nine before
the Judge for probate of wills and granting Adcons
lawfully authorised By the oath of Eliab Harvey the
Brother and sole executor therein named To whom
Administracon of all and singular the goods Chattells
and debts of the said deceased was granted and com-
mitted He being first sworne truely to administer. 1

Chas. Dyneley
John Iggulden
w. f. gostling

Deputy
Registers.

[• The will of Harvey is without date. But was almost certainly made
some time in the course of 1052. He speaks of certain deeds of declara-
li. in bearing date the 10th of July, 1651 ; and he provides money for the
completion of the buildings which he has " already begun to ere^t within
the Colledge of Physicians." Now these structures were finished in the
early part of 1653. The will was, therefore, written between July 1651,
and February 1653. The codicil is also undated: but we may presume
that it was added shortly before Sunday the 28th of December 1656, the
day on which Harvey reads over the whole document and lormally
declares and publishes it as his last will and testament in the presence
of his friend Henneage Finch, and his faithful servant John Raby.]

INDEX

INDEX

A

Anastomosis, 63, 127, 1 72

how far observed by Harvey, 1 2S

Harvey states his views on, 179, 1S0
Aneurism

pulsation ot an, 15

axillary, its bearing on the pulse, 30

its effect on the pulse, 135
Animals

importance of dissecting the lower, 42
Aorta

why its walls thicker than those of'the pulmonary artery, 107

case in which portion of, ossified, 137
Argent, Dr.

dedication of treatise on Heart and Blood to, 5
Aristotle

referred to, vii, 27

on the pulse, 30

on the chick, 34.

quoted in support of pulsation of heart ot embryo, 46

circular motion of rain suggested by, compared to that of the
blood, 56

on the heart, 93, 97, 105, 166

his error regarding the mitral valve, 101

on the study of the lower animals, 137

on trusting to the senses, 160
Arteriotomy

experiments of, 14, 28, 29, 129, 163

outflow of blood in, 29

223

224 Index

Arteries

ancient views regarding the, ix

contain blood only, 12

contain same blood as the veins, 12

Galen's experiment on, 12

filled like bladders, not like bellows, 13

dilation of, due to impulse of blood, 14

diastole of, corresponds to systole of heart, 29

called veins, by Galen, 30, and the ancients, 57

why empty after death, 62, 140

coronary, supply the heart itself, 88

reason for greater thickness of coats of, 106

nearer to heart, more they differ from veins, 106

contained only aerial spirits, according to Erasistratus, 140
Artery

ligature of an, of a snake, 66

experiment of dividing an, 129, 146

experiment on an exposed uncut, 136

case of ossification of portion of an, 137
Arundel, Earl of

Harvey accompanied the, .on an embassy to the Emperor,
xxii
Aselli

discovered the lacteals, 117, 1S6

lacteal vessels of, referred to by Harvey, 197

B

Baer, Von

Harvey, a precursor of, xxi
Bandages

on the arm to show flow of blood in the veins, Si et seq.
Baiihiiz, Caspar

his observations on the heart, 31
Bibliography

of Harvey's works, xxiv
Bird

observations on the beat of the heart of a, 33

observations on the heart of the chick, 34, 36

Index 225

Blood

its course from veins to arteries, 4-

in the lower animals, 43

in the fictus, 44

its passage through the- longs,

;. -, passing through the heart, 55
circular motion of the, 56

demonstrated from impossibility of whole amount o(,

being derived from the ingesta, 58
iunt ejected from ventricle at each beat, 59
enter- a limb by arteries, leaves it by veins, 67
circulation of, proved by experiments with ligatures, 67, 68
quantity of, passing through bloodvessels supports circula-
tion, 76
circulation of, supported by valves in the veins. 78
manner of escape of, in surgical operations, 107
the whole of the, circulates, 1 14
is cooled in passing through the lungs, 122
force with which it flows from an artery, 156
is of same nature in arteries and veins, 13S, 143

reasons why a different view has been held, 139, 140
velocity of, varies in different parts, and at different times, 156
gives heat to the heart, 167
passage of, from arteries to veins, \vi, 168

C
Casalpinus, Andreas

claimed in Italy as the discoverer of the Circulation, xi
this claim criticised, xii
Calidum nutation, 145

not distinct from the blood, 146
Can j lis arteriosus

of foetus, shrinks gradually after birth, 45
Capillaries

too minute for Harvey to see, x-w

first observed by Malpighi, xvi
Carotid artery

experiment on the, 129

force with which blood flows from the. 136

R lC2

226 Index

Ckari.es 1.

his interest in Harvey's discovery, xviii

Harvey appointed physician to, xxii

remained such by request of the Parliament, xviii

dedication to, of treatise on Motion of Heart and Blood, 3

present at a demonstration by Harvey, 153
Chick

first sign of the heart in the, 34

Aristotle on, 34

observations of, on the fourth and fifth days of incubation, 30
Chordte lendineae, 99, 100
Chyle

absorbed by the blood, 92

vessels containing, 1 86
Circulation of the Blood

circulation as distinct from motion, xii

first suggested to Harvey's mind, 50

compared to circular movement of rain as suggested by
Aristotle, 56

confirmed by three propositions, 58

varies in rapidity, 61

explains the results of ligatures, 67 ct sea.

explains phlebotomy, 73

summary account of, 85, 168

confirmed by probable reasons, 86

proved by certain consequences, 90

confirmed from structure of the heart in many different kinds
of animals, 96

doctrine of the, the opposite to that vulgarly entertained, 10S

first reply to Riolan on the, in

applies to the whole of the blood, 114

in the mesentery, 119

coronary, or a third and very short, 125

through every part of the body, 126

second reply to Riolan on the, 133

reply to those who cry cui lono? 149

reasons given by opponents for not accepting the, 149. 150

velocity of, varies with age, sex, temperament, etc., 1 5 >

influenced by the emotions, 158

Index 227

Circulation of the I mlinued)

i apitulation of work "ii Motion of Heart and Blood, 161
interference with, followed by dangerous results, 171

further illustrations of, 170 et scq.
Columbus, Reatdus

claimed as discoverer of the Circulation, xi

referred to in relation to the Pulmonary Circulation, 12,
16, 50
Columna cornea

of the heart, 99
Co/it •

of disease spread, explained by circulation, go

nature of, referred to by Harvey, 193
Contraction

the source of all animal motion, 102

of the fibres of the heart. 105

of muscles as aid to movement of blood in the veins, 1 16
Conviction

means of acquiring, of physical truths discussed, 15S
Coronary

vessels supply the heart with blood, 88

circulation, a third, very short, 125

vein usually has a valve at its orifice, 125

D
Darcy, Sir A'.'

case of. illustrating obstruction of the circulation through the
heart, 155
Descartes

supports Harvey's discovery, xvii

Harvey makes his acknowledgments to, 169

his observations of the heart of a fish, 169

his explanation of the pulse not accepted by Harvey, 170
Diastole and Systole

of arteries as of the heart, 138

constituting the pulse, 163
Dissection

uses of, 112

failed to reveal any of the "spirits" of the schoolmen, 141

228 Index

Diuretic

drinks, their quick action in illustration of the large quantity
of blood circulating, 49
Ductus arteriosus

shrinks gradually after birth. 45
its function in the fcetus, 9S

E
Eel

observations on the heart of the, 33
Embryology

Harvey a pioneer in the science of, xx
Ent, Dr. George

persuaded Harvey to publish his treatise on Generation, xx
directed in Harvey's will to present his books and collections

to the College of Physicians, 216
Harvey left him his presses and shelves, 216
Epigenesis

Harvey's doctrine of, xxi
Erasistratus

thought the arteries contained only spirits or air, 40, 140

Euripus

the tides of, the motion of the heart as perplexing as, 22
Galen refers to, in speaking of the use of the semilunar

valves, 53
Riolan applies, to the movement of the blood in the mesenteric

vessels, 115
Experience

importance of, for scientific observation, 160

Experiment

the direct appeal to, viii

Galen's, to show arteries contain only blood, 12

Galen's, to show arteries filled like bellows, controverted by

Harvey, 14
of arteriotomy, 14, 28, 29
Galen's, of dividing the trachea. iS
to observe the beating heart, 24
of dividing the gill vessels of fishes, 28
on the hearts of an eel, a fish, and a pigeon, 33
to show the capacity of the left ventricle, 59

Index 229

1 "1 ■ • iment (continued)

on the heart of .1 snake, 65

of tying the veins below the heart in serpents ami fishes, 65

on a man's arm with a bands

..n the veins of the arm by ligatures, 82, S4

of tying the vena cava near the lie.irt and dividing car-
artery, l

t ialen's, on an artery, 134
performed and disproved by Harvey, 135

on an exposed undivided artery, 136

to show the f arteries and veins the same, 13S

to show the different character of outflow of blood from

artery and vein. 147
to show blood cannot pass from heart by the veins. 147
with the dried intestine of a dog filled with water to illustrate

the pulse, 152
on the jugular vein of a fallow deer, 153
by appeal to, endeavour to demonstrate circulation, 163
of dividing exposed artery to observe effect on pulse, 163
of tying the pulmonary veins, 165
of bandaging arm and plunging it into cold water, 16S
of tying the vena portae, 171
of tying the vena cava near the crural veins. 172
on the body of a man recently hanged, to show course of

blood through lungs, 177

Fabricius, Hieronymus, of Aquapendente

Harvey's teacher of anatomy at Padua, xiv

his views on the heart ami lungs, 9
pulmonary veins, IS

his anatomical work, 23

discovered the valves of the veins, 7S
Finch, Heneage

Harvey's cousin, advised him as to his will. 214

witness to codicil of Harvev's will. 217
Fish

experiment on gill vessels of, 28

observations on the heart of, }}

230 Index

Fish (continued)

the heart of, has only one ventricle, 42

auricles of the heart of, 103
Florence

Harvey refers to his visits to, 185, 194
and three of his nephews, 199
Flourens

on Harvey's work, viii
Foramen ovale

of heart of foetus, 20, 44

its significance in foetal life. 47, 9S
Frankfort-on-Main

Harvey's treatise on the Heart and Blood first published
there, xv
Fuliginous vapours

views of the ancients on, ix, 10, 11, 17

Galen

high regard in which he was held by medievalists, vii

on the object of the pulse, 9

his experiment to show arteries contain only blood, 12

his experiment to prove arteries expand like bellows, and

controverted by Harvey, 14
his experiment of dividing the trachea of a dog, 18
on the beat of the auricles, 32
quotations from, on movement of the blood, 40, 41
aware of the use of the semilunar valves, 51, 52
believed blood passed from right ventricle into the lungs, 53
on the structure of the heart, 105
his experiment on an artery, 134

performed and disproved by Harvey, 135
Galileo

at Padua with Harvey, vii, xiv

as a pioneer in scientific discovery, viii
Generation of Animals

Harvey's treatise on, its publication, xx

interesting points in, xxi

Harvey refers to his work on the, 177

Quotation from, on the Acquisition of Knowledge, >:ix

Index 231

H

on Harvey's discovery, xiii
Harvey

piuiiccr in scientific discovery, viii
greatness of his discovery, viii, i\

his life, xiii et uq.

his views on controversy, xviii, 133

on the manner of acquiring knowledge, xix

his treatise on Generation, xxi, 177

his statue, xxii
I ition in his memory, xxii

his brother Eliab, xxiii, 212, 219

his various works, xxiv

on the pursuit of truth, 7

vibes how his discovery was received, 23

his letters, 175 et set/.

■ n the use of terms, 182

his will, 2 12
Heart

ideas about the, before the time of Harvey, ix

object of its beat connected with Respiration by old anato-
mists, 9
movements of the, 24

contracts and becomes paler at its beat, 24, 25
does not suck in the blood', 27

the auricles and ventricles of the, their movements, 31
the auricles of the, the primum vivens, ultimum moriens, 34
observations on the heart of the chick, 34. 36
always has auricles or something analogous, 35
of a shrimp, its movements studied, 36
movements of, summarised, 37
intimate connection of lungs and, a grand cause of error to

the old observers, 39
of fish, has only one ventricle, 42
great vessels of the, in the embryo, 44
foramen ovale of the, in the fcetus, 44, 98, 165
of embryo, pulsation, etc., known to Aristotle, 45

232 Index

Heart (continued)

compared figuratively to the sun, 57

amount of blood ejected at each beat of the, 59

of a live snake, observations on, 65

influenced by emotions, S7

curious case of distended heart under emotion, 156

coronary vessels of, 88

only organ containing blood for general use, SS

structure of the, in different classes of animals confirms the
circulation, 97

papillary muscles and chordse tendinea? of, 99

arrangement and use of the valves of the, 100

the heart a muscle and acts as such, so called by Hippo-
crates, 104

development of the, in the foetus, 104

arrangement of the fibres of, 105

the first part which exists, 105

high importance of the, in the bodily economy, 105

distension of, after hanging, 1 54

Sir Robert Darcy's case of ruptured, 155

receives heat from the blood, 167'

innate heat of, suggested as cause of the pulse, luS

of the fish, observations of motions of the, 169
Hippocrates

entitled the heart a muscle, 104

his doctrine as to the constitution of the body, 142
Hobbes

on the reception of Harvey's discovery, xvii
Hofmann, Caspar

letter of Harvey to, 175
Horst,/. D.

letters of Harvey to, 195, 197
Huxley, Prof. T. H.

on Harvey's treatise on Generation, xxi

Jugular vein

Experiment of dividing the, in the fallow deer, to show course
of the contained blood, 153

Index 233

K
King, The. See Chat Us I.

L
Laett

discovert i by Aselli, 117, iS6

Harvey refers to the researches of Aselli and Pecquet on
the, 186

Harvey discusses the, in a letter to R. Morison, 1S7, 188
Lametttiits, And

quoted by Harvey, 20, 22
Lennox, Puke of

Harvey accompanied him abroad, xxii
Letters

of Harvey, 173 ct sea.

'ure

of veins near the heart, 65

assuming circulation, action and use of ligatures readily under-
stood, 67, 6S

of vena cava, 129, 172

of pulmonary veins, 165

of vena porta', 171
Liver

absorbed food passes through the, 49

absorbed chyle passes through the, 92

in the foetus, 92

nature of blood brought to, 94

chyle transferred to, by mesenteric vessels, nS
I. in:

speculation on changes in the blood passing through the, 48

blood cooled on passing through the, 122, 145

course of blood through the, shown by an experiment on the
body of a man recently hanged, 177

M
MaJpighi

the first to observe the capillaries, xvi
Medical Obserz'a:.

Harvey refers to his, 157, 158, 171

234 Index

Medicines

externally applied confirm the circulation, 91
Mesentery

bloodvessels of, 94, 115

Harvey combats Riolan's denial of circulation in vessels of
the, 115

Harvey suggests an experiment to convince him, 171

valves in the mesenteric veins, 116

veins of. transfer chyle to the liver, 118
Metamorphosis

doctrine of, contrasted with that of Epigenesis, xxi
Mitral Valve

references to, 17, 101

Aristotle's error regarding the, 101
Morison, A'.

letter of Harvey to, 1S5
Movement

of the heart, 24, 36

of the auricles and ventricles, 31

of the heart summarised, 37

of the blood from veins to arteries, 42

of the blood in the fcetus, 44
lower animals, 43
is circular, 58

of the blood in the veins aided by the circumjacent muscles,
116
Muscle

the heart a, and so called by Hippocrates, 104

N

Nardi, John, of Florence

letters cf Harvey to, 184, 193, 199
Nutrition of the Tissues

connection of the, with the circulation, 119

O

Oration, Harzcian

founded by Harvey, delivered annually at the College of
Physicians, xxii

Index 235

p

Harvey and Galileo there together, vii, \iv

famous for its university. \iv

Harvey studies medicine at, xiv

. Thomas

anatomical examination of the body of, 207
logy

how best advanced, 112
Pecquet

Harvey refers to his disc >v ry i the Receptacalum Chyli, 186

Harvey praises his industry, 196
Sec also Lacteals
Phlebotomy

explained by the circulation. 73

shows nature of flow of blood in the veins, 154

influenced by temperature and mental state, 157
Physicians, College of

Harvey elected a Fellow of the, xv

I tarvey built a Convocation Hall for, and gave books to, xvii
his treatise dedicated to President and Fellows of, 5
Physiology

importance of its study, 112
Poisons

action of, confirmatory of the circulation, 90
Pulmonary Artery

formerly supposed to carry nourishment to lungs, 17

why coats of, thinner than those of aorta, 107

transmits far more blood than required for nutrition, 108
Pulmonary Circulation

speculation as to its use, 48

follows from continual passage of blood from right ventricle
to lungs, and from lungs to left ventricle, 54

course of, shown in body of a man recently hanged, 177
Pulmonary Veins

ancient views regarding their function, 17
Pulse

caused by contraction of the ventricle, 29

due to the impulse or shock of the blood, 30

236 Index

Pulse (continued)

Aristotle on the, 30

found in all parts of the body, 121

not inherent in walls of arteries, 135

in an artery beyond an aneurism, 135

in an artery beyond an ossified portion, 137

illustrated by experiment with dried intestine of a dog, 152

cause of, in arteries near the heart, 163

R

Rabies

how confirmatory ol the circulation, 90
Riolan,John, fun.

controversy with Harvey, xix

quoted on the movements of the heart, 31

Harvey's First Disquisition addressed to, 109

presented a copy of his work to Harvey, 1 1 1

his views on the circulation, 113

denies the mesenteric circulation, 115

favoured view that septum of heart is permeable, 123

Harvey's Second Disquisition to, 131

S
Scarborough, Dr.

a friend to whom Harvey left his surgical instruments, 216
and his velvet gown, 218

directed by Harvey's will to present to College of Physicians
his books and collections, 216
Science

dependent on pre-existing knowledge ot more obvious
things, 160
Semilunar Valves

references to, 16, 45

Galen aware of their use, 51

function to prevent regurgitation, 116, 153
Senses

facts cognisable by, wait on no opinion, 150

importance of appealing to the, 158, 159

Aristotle on trusting to the, 160

Index 237

Septum of the Heart

■ • salpinos thought it permeable, xii

Harvey on the view that it i^ porous, 19, 20
in believed it porous, 1- i
Strvetus, Mi

gave B description of the pulmonary circulation, x
curious history of his work containing it, xi
Shrt

movements of the heart of a, 30

See Sem

. ■ us, Jilt e

discovered the valves of the veins according to Riolan, 7S
Simon, Sir /.

on Harvey's discovery, ix

- ■■. P. m.

letter of Harvey to, 176
Snake

observations of heart and bloodvessels of a live, 65
- its

views of the ancients regarding, ix

arteries supposed to contain, by Erasistratus, 140

the common subterfuge of ignorance, 141

three kinds of, admitted by the medical schools, 141

not distinct from the blood, 143, 146
Spleen

bloodvessels connected with the, 94

vein of, has a valve, 116
Systole and Diastole

of arteries as of heart, 138

constitute the pulse, 163

observations on, 170

Transmission oj Disease

discussed, 193
Tricuspid Valve

referred to, 16, 101, 153

2 3 8

Index
u

Umbilical Vein

function of, I iS

•

V

Valves

semilunar, 16, 45, 116, 153

tricuspid, 16, 101, 153

mitral, 17

Galen on valve of pulmonary artery, 51

of the veins discovered by Fabricius or Silvius, 78

of veins, their structure, arrangement, and use of, 7S, 80

Fabricius did not understand use of valves of veins, 79

of veins compared with sigmoid valves, 82

experiments on the arm to show action ot the, and how
the blood moves in the veins, 82. 84

not found in all veins, 116

of the mesenteric veins, 116

coronary vein has a valve at its orifice, 125
Veins

pulmonary, ancient views regarding their position, 17

near the heart, experiment, of ligaturing the, 65

of the arm, experiment on with bandages, 82. S4

coronary. 88

of the mesentery, the function of the, 118

umbilical, function of, 11S

coronary vein has a valve at its orifice, 125

experiment on, by cooling the arm, 168

valves of the. See Valves
Vena cava

of snake, experiment upon the, 65

experiment of tying, near the heart, 129
Vena porta

blood passes from the, through the liver, 118

its branches, 128

Harvey suggests the experiment of ligaturing it, 171
I 'en t ride

no right ventricle if no lung, 15, 54

the left, the principal part of the heart, 98

Index 239

Ventricle (continued)

the left, three times thicker than the right, 100

ease of rupture of the, 155
VentricUs

structure of both, almost identical, 15

both contract simultaneously, 19

movements and use of the, 37

in the foetal heart, 98

valves of the, 100
I

the " Father of Anatomy,

l'i.>fessor of Anatomy at Padua, xiv

did not properly understand the heart's motion, 26

refer* to Galen's experiment on an artery, 135

ing in his interpretation of Galen's experiment, 138
VI a 1 • ' n

letter oi Harvey to, 2CO

W

Warmth

felt in the hand on loosening bandage on the arm, 69
restored to parts chilled by the influx of blood, 121, 146

of Harvey drawn up by Heneage Finch, 212, 214
proved by Eliab Harvey, 219
legacies by, to Dr-. Scarborough and Ent, 216
■

Harvey as forerunner of, xxi

vV

FfLlBRARY

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Volumes obtainable in Leather are marked l

BIOGRAPHY

Audubon the Naturalist, Life and Adventures of. By R. Buchanan. 601
Baxter (Richard 1 *, Autobiography of. Edited by Rev. J. M. Lloyd

Thomas. 868
Beaconsfleld (Lord), Life of. By J. A. Froude. 666
Berlioz (Hector), Life of. Translated by Katherine F. Boult. 602
Blackwell (Dr Elizabeth): Pioneer Work for Women. With an Introduc-
tion by Mrs Fawcett. 667
L Boswell's Life of Johnson. 2 vols. 1-2
(See also Travel)
Browning (Robert), Life of. By E. Dowden. 701

Buxton (Sir Thomas Fowell), Memoirs of. Edited by Charles Buxten.
Introduction by Lord Buxton. 773 [Maurois. 931

L Byron's Letters. Edited by R. G. Howarth. Introduction by Andre
Carey (William), Life of: Shoemaker and Missionary. 395
Carlyle's Letters, and Speeches of Cromwell. 3 vols. 266-8
„ Reminiscences. 875

(See also Essays and History)
l Cellini's (Benvenuto) Autobiography. 51
Gibber's (Colley) An Apology for his Life. 668
Constable (John), Memoirs of. By C. R. Leslie, R.A. 563
Cowper (William), Selected Letters of. Intro, by W. Hadley, M.A. 774

(See also Poetry and Drama)
De Quincey's Reminiscences of the Lake Poets. Intro, by E. Rhys. 163

(See also Essays)
De Retz (Cardinal): Memoirs. By Himself. 2 vols. 735-6
Evelyn's Diarv. 2 vols. Introduction by G. W. E. Russell. 220-1
Forster's Life of Dickens. Intro, by G. K. Chesterton. 2 vols. 781-2

(See also Fiction)
Fox (George), Journal of. Text revised by Norman Penney, F.S.A.

Introduction by Rufus M. Jones, LL.D. 754
Franklin's (Benjamin) Autobiography. 316
Fronde's Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfleld. 666
L Gaskell's (Mrs) Life of Charlotte Bronte. Intro, by May Sinclair. 318
Gibbon (Edward), Autobiography of. Intro, by Oliphant Smeaton. 511

(See also History)
Gladstone, Life of. By G. W. E. Russell ('Onlooker'). 661
Hastings (Warren), Life of. By Capt. L. J. Trotter. 452
Helps' (Sir Arthur) Life of Columbus. 332
Hodson, of Hodson's Horse. By Capt. L. J. Trotter. 401
Holmes' Life of Mozart. Introduction by Ernest Newman. 564
Houghton's Life and Letters of Keats. Introduction by Robert Lynd. 801
Hutchinson (Col.) Memoirs of. Intro. Monograph by F. P. G. Guizot. 317
Irving's Life of Mahomet. Introduction by Professor E. V. Arnold. 513
Johnson's Lives of the Poets. Intro, by Mrs Archer-Hind, M.A. 770-1
Lamb (Charles), Letters of. 2 vols. 342-3

(See also Essays and For Young People)
Lewes' Life oi Goethe. Introduction by Havelock Ellis. 269
Lincoln (Abraham), Life of. By Henry Bryan Binns. 783

(See also Oratory)
Lockhart's Life of Robert Burns. Latroduction by E. Rhys. 156
1, „ Life of Napoleon. 3

Life of Sir Walter Scott (abridged). 55
Mazzini, Life of. By Bolton King, M.A. 562 [Newcastle. 722

Newcastle (First Duke of), Life of, and other writings by the Duchess of
Outram (Sir J.), The Bayard of India. By Capt. L. J . Trotter. 396

2

BIOGRAPHY— continued

Pepys' Diary. Lord Hr.n hrooke's 1H54 oil. '.' vol*. 33-4

riutiirih'n Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans. Pryden'a Transintin-]
Revised, with Introduction, by Arthur Hugh CHonga. 3 rote. 4u; j

Roosscaa. Confessions of. iYois. > s .''-' 80

Scott's Lives of the Novelist*. Introduction by I ieorge SalntHbury. 331
(Set til<,> h"i< -lliiN and Pobtrt)

8eebohm (Frederic : The Oxford Kofurmow. With a 1'rofaeo by Eogb
K. Beebobm. 065

Smiftton's A Life of Bbakespeare, with Criticisms of the Hays. ..1 l

Southev's Life »f Nelson. .')'.'

Btriokland's Life of Queen Kllzaboth. 100

Swift's Journal to Stella. Newly deciphered and edited by J. K. Moor-
head, [ntrodnotlon by sir Walter Boott 757
[See also Essays ana Fob fouwa Pboplb)

\ asarl'a Lives of the Painters. Trans, by A. B. Hinds, 4 vols. -S4-7

Voltaire's Life of Charles Ml. Introduction by Lt. lion. J. Burns. -.'70

WsJpole (Horace) Selected Letters of. Intro, by \V. Hadley, M.A. 775

Wellington, Life of. By <L R. Qlalg. 341

W -i. -v's Journal. 4 vols. Intro, by Rev. F. W. Macdonald. lo;>-8

Woounan'8 (Johnl Journal and Other Papora. Introduction by Vlda D.
Bondder. 403

CLASSICAL

.1 - -hvlus' Lyrical Dramas. Translated by Professor J. S. Blackle. 62
Aristophanes" The Frogs, The Clouds. The Thesmophorlans. 510

„ The Acharuians, The Knitrhts, and The Birds. Frere's

Translation. Introduction by John P. Maine. 344
Aristotle's Politics. Introduction by A. D. Lindsay. 605

,, Poetics, etc., and Demetrius on Style, etc. Edited bv

{See also Philosophy) [Itev. T. A. Moxon. 001

Caesar's The Gallic War and Other Commentaries. Translated by \V. A.

McDoTitte. 702
Cicero's Essays and Select Letters. Intro. Note by de Quincey. 345
L Epii Moral Discourses, eta Klizabeth Carter's Translation. Edited

by \V. H. D. Rouse. M.A. 404
Euripides' Plays in 2 vols. Introduction by V. R. Reynolds. Translated
by Id*. Wodhull and R. Potter, with Shelley's 'Cyclops' and Dean
Milman's 'Bacchanals.' 63, 2 7 1
Herodotus. Rawlinaon'a Translation. Edited, with Introduction, by
E. H. Blakeney, M.A., omittini? Translators' Original Essays, and
Appendices. 2 vols. 405-6
l Homer's Iliad. Lord Derby's Translation. 453

L „ Odyssey. William Cowper's Translation. Introduction by Miss

F. M. Stawell. 454

Horace. Complete Poetical Works. 515 [006, and 671

Hutchinson's (W. M. L.) The Muses' Pageant. Vols. I, IT, and III. 581,

Livy*a History of Rome. Vols. I-VI. Translated by Rev. Canon Roberts.

603, 669, 670, 740, 755, and 756
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things. Translated by W. E. Leonard. 750
L Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Introduction by W. H. D. Rouse. 9
I lato's Dialogues. 2 vols. Introduction by A. D. Lindsay. 456-7
L „ Republic. Translated, with an Introduction, by A. D. Lindsay. 64
Plutarch's Moralia. 20 Essays translated by Philemon Holland. 565
Sophocles' Dramas. Translated by Sir G. Young, Bart. 114
Thucydides' Peloponneaian War. Crawley's Translation. 455
L Virgil's .Kneid. Translated by E. Fairfax-Taylor. 161

„ Eclogues and Georgics. Translated by T. F. Royds, M.A. 222
Xenophou's Cyropsedia. Translation revised by Miss F. M. Stawell. 67 J

ESSAYS AND BELLES-LETTRES

L Anthologv of Prose. Compiled and Edited by Miss S. L. Edwards. 675
Arnold's (Matthew) Essays. Introduction by G. K. Chesterton. 115
„ „ study of Celtic Literature, and other Critical Essays,

with Supplement by Lord Strangford, etc. 45i
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l Bacon's Essays. Introduction by Oliphant Smeaton. 10
(Sec also Philosophy)
Bagehot's Literary Studies. 2 vols. Intro, by George Sampson. 520-1
Belloc's (Hilaire) Stories. Kssays, and Foems. 94b
L Brown's Rab and his Friend, etc. 116

Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution and contingent Essays.
Introduction bv A. J. Grieve, M.A. 460 (See also Oratorio

3

ESSAYS AND BELLES-LETTRES— continued

Canton's (William) The Invisible Playmate, W. V., Her Book, and In
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Carlyle'e Essays. 2 vols. With Notes by J. Russell Lowell. 703-4
Past and Present. Introduction by R. W. Emerson. 008
„ Sartor Resartus and Heroes and Hero Worship. 278
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Castieli one's The Courtier. Translated by Sir Thomas Hoby. Intro-
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Century of Essays, A. An Anthology of English Essayists. 653
Chesterfield's (Lord) Letters to his Son. 823
L Chesterton's (G. K.) Stories, Essays, and Poems. 913

Coleridge's Biogrraphia Literaria. Introduction by Arthur Symons. 11
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l De la Mare's (Walter) Stories, Essays, and Poems 940

De Quincey's (Thomas) Opium Eater. Intro, by Sir G. Douglas. 223
„ „ The English Mail Coach and Other Writings.

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Dryden's Dramatic Essays. With an Introduction by W. H. Hudson. 568
Elyot's Gouernour. Intro, and Glossary by Prof. Foster Watson. 227
l Emerson's Essays. First and Second Series. 12
l „ Nature, Conduct of Life, Essays from the 'Dial.' 322

„ Representative Men. Introduction by E. Rhys. 279
„ Society and Solitude and Other Essays. 567
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Florio's Montaigne. Introduction by A. R. Waller, M.A. 3 vols. 440-2
Froude's Short Studies. Vols. I and II. 13, 705

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Gilflllan's Literary Portraits. Intro, by Sir W. Robertson Nicoll. 348
Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann. Intro, by Havelock Ellis.

851. (See also Fiction and Poetry)
Goldsmith's Citizen of the World and The Bee. Intro, by R. Church. 902

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Hamilton's The Federalist. 519

Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Comic Writers. 411
„ Shakespeare's Characters. 65

Spirit of the Asre and Lectures on English Poets. 459
Table Talk. 321

Plain Speaker. Introduction by P. P. Howe. 814
l Holmes' Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 66
Poet at the Breakfast Table. 68
„ Professor at the Breakfast Table. 67
l Hudson's (W. H.) A Shepherd's Life. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. f?5

Hunt's (Leifih) Selected Essays. Introduction by J. B. Priestley. S29
L Huxley's (Aldous) Stories, Essays, and Poems. 935
Irving's Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. 117

(See also Biography and History)
Landor's Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A selection. Edited
with Introduction by Havelock Ellis. 890
L Lamb's Essays of Elia. Introduction by Augustine Birrell. 14
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Lowell's (James Russell) Among My Books. 607

Macaulay's Essays. 2 vols. Introduction by A. J. Grieve, M.A. 225-6
„ Miscellaneous Essays and The Lays of Ancient Rome. 439
(See also History and Oratory)
Machiavelll's Prince. Special Trans, and Intro, by W. K. Marriott. 280

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Martinengo-Cesaresco (Countess) : Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs. 673
Mazzini's Duties of Man, etc. Introduction by Thomas Jones, M.A. 224
Milton's Areopagitica, etc. Introduction by Professor C. E. Yaughan. 795
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L Mitford's Our Village. Edited, with Introduction, by Sir John Squire. 927
Montagu's (Lady) Letters. Introduction by R. Brimley Johnson. 69
Newman's On the Scope and Nature of University Education, and a
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Osborne's (Dorothy) Letters to Sir William Temple. Edited and con-
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Penn's The Peace of Europe. Some Fruits of Solitude, etc. 724
Prelude to Poetry, The. Edited by Ernest Rhys. 789
laynold's Discourses. Introduction by L. March Phiiiipps. 11a

4

ESSAYS AND BFLLES-LFTTRFS— continued

l Rhys's New Book of Boom and Nonsense. 813

Rousseau's Kmlle. Translated t>y Barbara l oxley. 5is
(See alao Philosophy and Thjcoli

L Ruflklu's Crown of Wild olive and Oestns of Ak'lala. 3-3
„ Elements of Drawing and PerspeotlTe. 217

Ethics of tbe Dost. Introduction by Grace Rhys. 282

„ Modern l'ii!iit<T-<. 5 vols, Introduction by Lionel Oast. 20<< ia
„ Prs-Raphaelltlsm. Leotnns on Architecture and Painting,
Academy Notes, 1855-9, and Notew on th» Turner Gallery.
Introduction by Lanrenoe Blnyon. 218
l „ Besameand Lilies, The Two Paths, and The Kins; of the Golden

Liver. Introdnotlon by sir OUrer Lodge, 819
„ Seven Lamp* of Architecture. Intro, by Bolwyn Image, 207
St onrt> of Venice. 3 vols. Intro, by L. March Phlllipps. 213-15
Tlmo and Tide with otb'T K-ivH. 450
Unto Thla Last. The political Economy of Art. 216
(See aUo Fob Young I'koplb)
Spectator, The. 4 vols. Introdnotlon hy G. G reg or y Smith. 164-7
Spencer's (Herbert i Essays on Education. Intro, by O. 97, Eliot. 504
Sterne's BentlmentsJ Journey and Journal and Letters to Eliza. Ii

'•'> Fiction) I by George Saintsbury. 790

L Stevenson's In the South Seas and Island Nights' Entertainments. 7<iy

L ,, Virglnibus Puerisque and Familiar Studies of Men and

(See alto Fiction, Poetry, and Travel) [Books. 765

Swift's Tale of r. Tub, The Battle of the Books, etc. 347

(See al*" BIOGRAPHY and FOK YOUNO PEOPLE)

Swinncrton's (Frank) The Georgian Literary Scene. 943

Table Talk. Edited by J. C. Thornton. 906

Taylor's (Isaac) Words and Places, or Etymologica ' Illustrations of
History. Ethnology, and Geography. Intro, by Edward Thomas. 5) 7

Thackeray's (W. M.> 'i'ho English Humourists and The Four Georges.
Introduction by Walter Jerrold. 610 (See also Fiction)

i. Thoreau's Walden. Introduction by Walter Raymond. 281

Trench's On the Study of Words and English Past and Present. Intro-
duction by George Sampson. 788

Tytler's Essav on the Principles of Translation. 103

Walton's Compleat Angler. Introduction by Andrew Lang. 70

FICTION

ALmard's The Indian Scout. 428
i iinsworth'a (Harrison) Old St. Paul's. Intro, by W. E. A. Axon. 522

The Admirable Crichton. Intro, by E. Kh)8. 804
, „ The Tower of London. 400

Windsor Castle. 709

Rookwood. Intro, by Frank Swinnerton. 870
American Short Stories of the Nineteenth Century. Edited by John
Couxnoe. 840
L Austen's (Jane) Emma. Introduction by R. B. Johnson. 24

„ Mansfield Park. Introduction by U. B. Johnson. 23
, „ Nort banger Abbey and Persuasion. Introduction bv

R. B. Johnson. 25
L ,, Pride and Prejudice. Introduction by R. B. Johnson. 22

„ Sense and Sensibility. Intro, by R. B. Johnson. 21
Balzac's (Uonore de) Atheist's Mass. Preface by George Saintsbury. 229
„ Catherine de Medici. Introduction by Geortre
Saintsbury. 419 *

Chri6t in Flanders. Introduction by Georze
Saintsbury. 284 b

„ „ Cousin Pons. Intro, by George Saintsbury. 463

„ „ Eugenie Grandet. Intro, by George Saintsbury. 169

M „ Lost Illusions. Intro, by George Saintsbury. 6.36

L „ OldGoriot,. Introduction by George Saintsbury. 170

„ The Cat and Racket, and Other Stories. 349
„ The Chouans. Intro, by George Saintsburr. 285
„ The Country Doctor. Intro. George Saintsbury. 530

The Countrv Parson. 686
„ The Quest of the Absolute. Introduction by Georga
Saintsbury. 2S6
„ „ The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau. 596

1 he Wild Ass's Skin. Intro, by George Saintsbury. 26
„ ., L isule Mirouet. Intro, by George Saintsbury. 733

5

FICTION— continued

Barbusse'a Under Fire. Translated by Fitzwater Wray. 798
L Bennett's (Arnold) The Old Wives' Tale. 919
L Blackmore'8 (R. D.) Lorna Doone. 304

L Borrow's Lavengro. Introdnction by Thomas Seccombe. 119
l „ Romanv Rye. 120 (See also Travel)

L Bronte's (Anne) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Apnea Grey. 685
h „ (Charlotte) Jane Eyre. Introdnction by May Sinclair. 287

L „ „ Shirley. Introduction by May Sinclair. 288

„ „ The Professor. Introduction by May Sinclair. 417

L „ ,, Villette. Introduction by May Sinclair. 351

L „ (Emily) Wuthering Heights. 243

Bumey's (Fanny) Evelina. Introduction by R. B. Johnson. 352
Butler's (Samuel) Erewhon and Erowhon Revisited. Introduction by
Desmond MacCarthy. 881
The Way of All Flesh. Introduction by A.J. Hopp6. 895
Collins' (Wilkie) The Woman in White. 464
L Conrad's Lord Jim. Introduction by R. B. Cunninghame Graham. 925
L Converse's (Florence) Long Will. 328

Dana's (Richard H.) Two Years before the Mast. 588
Daudet's Tartarin of Tarascon and Tartarin of the Alps. 423
Defoe's Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders. Intro, by G. A. Aitken.
„ Captain Singleton. Introduction by Edward Garnett. 74 [837
„ Journal of the Plague Year. Introduction by G. A. Aitken. 289
„ Memoirs of a Cavalier. Introduction by G. A. Aitken. 283
(See also For Young People)
Charles Dickens' Works. Each volume with an Introduction by G. K.

Chesterton.
L American Notes. 290 i. Little Dorrit. 293

L Barnaby Rudge. 76 L Martin Chuzzlewit. 241

L Bleak House. 236 L Nicholas Nickleby. 238

L Child's History of England. 291 L Old Curiosity Shop. 173
L Christmas Books. 239 L Oliver Twist. 233

L Christmas Stories. 414 L Our Mutual Friend. 294

L David Copperficld. 242 L Pickwick Papers. 235

L Dombey and Son. 240 Reprinted Pieces. 744

Edwin Drood. 725 Sketches by Boz. 237

l Great Expectations. 234 l Tale of Two Cities. 102

Hard Times. 292 L Uncommercial Traveller. 53 3

Disraeli's Coningsby. Introduction by Langdon Davies. 535
Dostoevtsky's (Fyodor) Crime and Punishment. Introduction by

Laurence Irving. 501
Letters from the Underworld and Other Tales

Translated by C. J. Hogarth. 654
Poor Folk and The Gambler. Translated by C. J

Hogarth. 711
The Possessed. Introduction by J. Middleton
Murry. 2 vols. 861-2 [533

Prison Life in Siberia. Intro. by Madame Stepniak.
The Brothers Karamazov. Translated by Con-
stance Garnett. 2 vols. 802-3
The Idiot. 682
Du Manner's (George) Trilby. Introduction by Sir Gerald du Maurier

With the original illustrations. 863
Dumas' Black Tulip. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 174
Chicot the Jester. 421

Le Chevalier de Maison Rouge. Intro, by Julius Bramont. 614
„ Marguerite de Valois ('La Reine Margot'). 326
l „ The Count of Monte Cristo. 2 vols. 393-4

The Forty-Five. 420
L „ The Three Musketeers. 81

„ The Vicomte de Bragelonne. 3 vols. 593-5
L „ Twenty Years After. Introduction by Ernest Rhvs. 175

Edgar's Cressy and Poictiers. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 17
„ Runnymede and Lincoln Fair. Intro, by L. K. Hughes 320
(.S'ee also For Young Peopt.k)
Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent and The Absentee. 410
L Eliot's (George) Adam Bede. 27
Felix Holt. 353
„ „ Middlemarch. 2 vols. 854-5

L „ „ Mill on the Floss. Intro. Sir W. Robertson Nicoll. 325

l „ „ Romola Introduction by Rudolf Dircks. 231

l „ ., Scenes of Clerical Life. 468

6

FICTION— continued

Fllot'a (George* Silnx Marner. Introduction by Annie Matliixion. 121
l English Short Stories. An Anthology- T43

Erokm&nn-Cbatrl&n'a Tho Conaorlpl and Waterloo. 3.M

The Story of a Pendant. Translated by C. J.
Hogarth. 2 vols. 706-7
Fenlmoro Cooper's The Ivi-ralaver. 77

The Last of the Mohicans. 79

The Pathfinder. 78
The Pioneers. 171

The Prairie. 17-'
Ferrier'a (Susan) Marriage. Introduction by IT. L. Morrow. Kid
Fielding's Amelia. Intro, by «'.eorg» Salntsbury. 8 Tola. B59 3

Jonathan Wild, and The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon.
Introduction by George Saintsbury. 877
„ Joeepb Andrews. Introduction by Oeorgo Salntsbury. 467

Tom Jones. Intro, by George Salntahury. 2 vols. 355-6
Flaubert's Madamo Bovary. Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling.
Introduction by George Salntebury. 808

.iMinbO. Translated bv J. S. Chartrcs. Introduction bv
Pro feasor F. C. Green. 869
French Short Stories of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Selected, with
an Introduction by Professor F. C. Green. 896
L Galsworthy's (John) The Country House. 917

Gait's Annals of a Parish. Introduction by Halllie Mncdonald. 427
Gaak&Q'a (Mn) Cousin Phillls, etc. Intro, by Thos. Seccombe. 615
L ,. Cranford. 83

Mary Barton. Introduction by Thomas Soccomba. 593
North and South. 680

Svlvia's Lovers. Intro, by Mrs Ellis Chadwick. 524
Gleig'a (G. R.) The Subaltern. 708
Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. Carlyle's Translation. 2 vols. 599-600

(See also Essays and Poetry)
Gogol's (Nicol) Dead Souls. Translated by C. J. Hogarth. 726
Taras Bulba and Other Tales. 740
L Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. Introduction by J. M. D. 295
(See also Essays and Poetry)
Goncharov's Oblomov. Translated bv Natalie Duddington. 878
Gorki's Through Russia. Translated by C. J. Hogarth. 741
Harte's (Bret) Luck of Roaring Camp and other Tales. 681
Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. Intro, by Ernest Rhys 176
L „ The Scarlet Letter. 122

„ The Blithedale Romance. 592

The Marble Faun. Intro, by Sir Leslie Stephen. 424
I, Twee Told Tales. 531

{/See also For Young People)
l Hugo's (Victor) Les Miserables. Intro, by S. R. John. 2 vols. 363-4
L „ .. Notre Dame. Introduction by A. O. Swinburne. 422

„ Toilers of the Sea. Introduction bv Ernest Rhys 509
Italian Short Stories. Edited by D. Pettoello. 876
James's (G. P. R.) Richelieu. Introduction by Rudolf Dircks. 357
L James's I Henry) The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers. 912

Kingsley's (Charles) Alton Locke. 462
L „ » Hereward the Wake. Intro, by Ernest Rhys. 296

L „ .. Hypatia. 230

. ,, Westward Hoi Introduction by A. G. Grieve. 20

" .. Yeast. 611

(See also Poetry and For Young People)
(Henry) Geoffrey Hamlyn. 416
„ „ Ravenshoe. 28

L Lawrence's (D. H.) The White Peacock. 914

Lever's Harry Lorrequer. Introduction by Lewis Melville. 177
l Loti's (Pierre) Iceland Fisherman. Translated by W. P. Bainea. 92J
L Lover's Handy Andy. Introduction by Ernest Rhvs. 178
L Lytton's Harold. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 15
L „ Last Days of Pompeii. 80

„ Last of the Barons. Introduction by R. G. Watkin. 18
„ Rienzi. Introduction by E. H. Blakeney, M.A. 532
(See also Travel)
MacDonald's tGeorge) Sir Gibbie. 678

(See also Romance) ((Mrs Hinkson). 324

Manning's Mary Powell and Deborah's Diary. Intro, by Katherine Tynan
„ Sir Thomas More. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 19

7

FICTION — continued

Marryat's Jnonb Faithful. 618
L „ Mr Midshipman Easy. Introduction by R. B. Johnson. 82

„ Percival Keene. Introduction by R. Brimley Johnson. 358

„ Peter Simple Introduction by R. Brimley Johnson. 232
The King's Own. 580
(See also For Young People)
l Maugham's (Somerset) Cakes and Ale. 932

Maupassant's Short Stories. Translated by Marjorie Laurie. Intro-
duction by Gerald Gould. 907
Melville's (Herman) Moby Dick. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 179
„ „ Omoo. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 297

„ ., Typee. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 180

L Meredith's (George) The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. 916

Merimee's Carmen, with Provost's Manon Lescaut. Introduction by

Philip Henderson. 834
Mickiewicz's (Adam) Pan Tadeusz. 842
L Moore's (George) Esther Waters. 933

Mulock's John Halifax, Gentleman. Introduction by J. Shaylor. 123

Neale's (J. M.) The Fall of Constaninople. 655

Paltock's (Robert) Peter Wilkins; or, The Flying Indians. Introduction

by A. n. Bullen. 676
Pater's Marius the Epicurean. Introduction by Osbert Bnrdett. 903
Peacock's Headlong Hall and Nightmare Abbey. 327
L Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Intro, by Padraic Colum. 336
(See also Poetry)
Prevost's Manon Lescaut, with M6rhnee's Carmen. Incroduction by
Philip Henderson. 834
L Priestlev's Angel Pavement. 938

Pushkin's (Alexander) The Captain's Daughter and Other Tales. Trans.

by Natalie Duddington. 898
Quiller-Couch's (Sir Arthur) Hetty Wesley. 864 [2 vols. 865-6

Radcliffe's (Ann) Mysteries of Udolpho. Intro, by R. Austin Freeman.
L Reade's (C.) The Cloister and the Hearth. Intro, by A. C. Swinburne. 29
Reade's (C.) Peg Woffington and Christie Johnstone. 299
Richardson's (Samuel) Pamela. Intro, by G. Saintsbury. 2 vols. 683-4
Clarissa. Intro, by Prof. W. L. Phelps. 4 vols.
" 882—5

Russian Authors, Short Stories from. Trans, by R. S. Townsend. 758
Sand's (George) The Devil's Pool and Francois the Waif. 534
Scheffel's Ekkehard: a Tale of the Tenth Century. 529
Scott's (Michael) Tom Cringle's Log. 710
Sir Walter Scott's Works:

Abbot The 124 i- Ivanhoe. Intro, by Ernest Rhys. 18

Anne of Geierstein. 125 l Kenil worth. 135

l Antiquary, The. 126 L Monastery, The. 136

P.lack Dwarf and Legend of Old Mortality. 137

Montrose. 128 Peveril of the Peak. 133

Bride of Lammermoor. 129 Pirate, The. 139

Castle Dangerous and The Sur- Quentin Durward. 140

geon's Daughter. 130 L Redgauntlet. 141

Count Robert of Paris. 131 L Rob Roy. 142

i Fair Maid of Perth. 132 St. Ronan's Well. 143

Fortunes of Nigel. 71 Talisman, The. 144

i Guy Mannering. 133 L \\ averley. 75

l Heart of Midlothian, The. 134 l Woodstock. Intro, by Edward
Hiehland Widow and Betrothed. 127 Garnett. 72

(See also Biography and Poetry)
Shchedrin's The Golovlyov Family. Translated by Natalie Duddington.

Introduction by Edward Garnett. 908
Shelley's (Mary Wollstonecraft) Frankenstein. 616
Sheppard's Charles Auchester. Intro, by Jessie M. Middleton. 505
Sienkiewicz (Henryk). Tales from. Edited by Monica M. Gardner. 871
Shorter Novels, Vol. I. Elizabethan and Jacobean. Edited by Philip
Henderson. 824
Vol. II. Jacobean and Restoration. Edited by Philip

Henderson. 841
Vol. III. Eighteenth Century (Beckford's Vathek,
Wal pole's Castle of Otranto, and Dr. Johnson's
Pmollett's Peregrine Pickle. 2 vols. 838-9 [Rasselas). 856

Roderick Random. Introduction by H. W. Hodges. 790
Stendhal's Scarlet and Black. Translated by C. K. Seoti Moncrieff.
2 vols. 945-6

8

FICTION— continued

l Stern**! Tristram Shandy. Introduction by George Saintsburr. 617

(/Bee iiU,, h.v,AVS)
L BteVSnSOn'l IT Jekvll ami Mr Hyde. The Merrv Men, ami Other '!
L .. The Master at Ballantrae and The Ml usk Arrow. 764 1767

l ,, raw [aland an i Kidnapped

Bt p.m. [ntroduotlon by Ernest Rhys. 904
{/Bee alto Essays, Postbt, and Tbavi
Burteea' tarrocks' j»m.n and Jollities. 817
L Tales of Detection. I - ductlon, byDorothyL. 8ayere, 998

Thaokei ■ e and the Ring and other stories.Intro.by Walter Jerrold.

•nd. Introduction by Walter Jerrold. 73 [35D

Newooxnes. Introduction by Walter Jerrol L I rols. 4G5— 6
Pendennls. Intro, by Walter Jerrold. 2 vols. 496—6
Roondabont Papera. 687

Vanity Fair, [ntrodnotion by Hon. Wblt^law Raid. 298
Virginians, [ntrodnotion by Walter Jerrold. I vols. 507-8

>>•'■■ E AYS)

L Tolstoy's Anna BZarenlna. Trans, by lioohelle 9. Townsend. 2 toN, rtl 2—13
Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth. Trans, by i . J. Hogarth. 691
Master and Man, and other Parables and Tales. 469
War and Peace. 3 vols. 625-7
Trollope'a ^Anthony) Harchoeter Towera. 30
Dr. Thome. 360

Framley Parsonage. Intro, by Ernest Rbys. 181
n .. The i > olden Lion of Granpere. Introduction by

Sir Hugh W'sJpole. 761
Tbe Last Chronicle of Barcet. 2 vols. 391-3
Phineas Finn. Intro, by Sir Hugh Walpole. 3 vols.
The Small House at Ailington. 361 1832-3

„ „ Tbe Warden. Introduction by Ernest Rhvs. 182

Tuxgcnev'a Fathers and Sons. Translated by C. J. Hogarth. 742
Liza. Translated by W. R, S. Ralston. 67 7
Virgin Soil. Translated bv Rochelle S. Townsend. 528
l Voltaire's Candida and Other Tales. 936
l. Walpole'a (Hu?hl Mr Pcrrin and Mr Traill. 918

L Wells's (H. G.) The Time Maehine and The Wheels of Chance. 915
W byte-MelflUe'B The Gladiators. Introduction by J. Mavrogordato. 623
Woods i.Mrs Henry) The Cbanninga. 84

Woolf's (Virginia) To the Lighthouse. Intro, by D. M. Hoare. 949
Yonge'a (Charlotte M.) The Dove in the Eagle's Nest. 329

„ The Heir of Redclyflo. Intro. Mrs Meynell. 362

(See also Fob Young People)
Zola's (Emilo) Germinal. Tauslatcd by Havelock Ellis. 897

HISTORY

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, The. Translated by James Ingram. 624
Mede's Ecclesiastical History, etc. Introduction by Vida D. Scudder. 479
Burnet's History of His Own Times. 85
L Carlyle's French Revolution. Introduction by H. Belloc. 2 vols. 31-2

(See also Biography and Essayh)
L Creasy's Decisive Battles of the World. Introduction by E .Rhys. COO
De Joinville (See Villehardouin)

ininiy's (Jean Victor) A History of France. 2 vols. 737-8
Finlay's Byzantine Empire. 33

„ Greece under the Romans. 185

Froude's Henry VIII. Intro, by LlewellTn Williams. M.P. 3 vols. 372-4

Edward VI. Intro, by Llewellyn Williams, M. P.. B.C.L. 375

Mary Tudor. Intro, by Llewellyn Williams, M.P., B.C.L. 477

History of Qneen Elizabeth's Reign. 5 vols. Completing

Froude's 'History of England,' in Pi vols. 583-7
(See also Essays and Biography)
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edited, with Introduc-
tion and Notes, by Oliphant Smeaton, M.A. 6 vols. 434-6, 474-6
(See also Biography |
Green's Short History of the English People. Edited and Revised by
L. Cecil Jane, with an Appendix by R. P. Farley, B.A. 2 vols. 727-8
G rote's History of Greece. Intro, by A. D. Lindsay. 12 vols. 186-97
Hallam'8 (Henry) Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. 621-3
Holinshed's Chronicle as used in Shakespeare's Plays. Introduction by

Professor Allardyce Nicoll. 800
lrving's (Washington) Conquest of Granada. 478

(See also Essays and Biography)

9

HISTORY— continued

Josephus' Wars of the Jews. Introduction by Dr Jacob Hart. 712
l Macaulay's History of England. 3 vols. 34-6
(See also Essays and Oratory)
Maine's (Sir Henry) Ancient Law. 734

Merivale's History of Rome. (An Introductory vol. to Gibbon.) 433
Mignet's (F. A. M.) The French Revolution. 713
Milnian's History of the Jews. 2 vols. 377-8
Mommsen's History of Rome. Translated by W. P. Dickson, LL.D.

With a review of the work by E. A. Freeman. 4 vols. 542-5
L Motley's Dutch Republic. 3 vols. 86-8

Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. 2 vols. 302-3

Paston Letters, The. Based on edition of Knight. Introduction by

Mrs Archer-Hind, M.A. 2 vols. 752-3
Pilgrim Fathers, The. Introduction by John Masefleld. 480
h Pinnow's History of Germany. Translated by M. R. Brailsford. 929
Political Liberty, The Growth of. A Source-Book of English History.

Arranged by Ernest Rhys. 745 [M.A. 2 vols. 397-8

Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. With Introduction by Thomas Seccombe,

„ Conquest of Peru. Intro, by Thomas Seccombe, M.A. 301

Sismondi's Italian Republics. 250

Stanley's Lectures on the Eastern Church. Intro, by A. J. Grieve. 251
Tacitus. Vol. I. Annals. Introduction by E. H. Blakeney. 273

,, Vol. II. Agricola and Germanla. Intro, by E. H. Blakeney. 274
Thierry's Norman Conquest. Intro, by J. A. Price, B.A. 2 vols. 198-9
Villehardouin and. De Joinville's Chronicles of the Crusades. Translated,

with Introduction, by Sir F. Marzials, C.B. 333
Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV. Translated by Martyn P. Pollack. 780

ORATORY

L Anthology of British Historical Speeches and Orations. Compiled by
Ernest Rhys. 714
Bright's (John) Speeches. Selected with Intro, by Joseph Sturge. 252
Burke's American Speeches and Letters. 340 (See also Essays)
Demosthenes: Select Orations. 546
Fox (Charles James): Speeches (French Revolutionary War Period).

Edited with Introduction by Irene Cooper Willis, M.A. 759
Lincoln's Speeches, etc. Intro, by the Rt. Hon. James Bryce. 206

(See also Biography)
Macaulay's Speeches on Politics and Literature. 399

(See also Essays and History)
Pitt's Orations on the War with France. 145

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

L A Kempis' Imitation of Christ. 484

Ancient Hebrew Literature. Being the Old Testament and Apocrypha.

Arranged by the Rev. R. B. Taylor. 4 vols. 253-6
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics of. Translated by D. P. Chase.

Introduction by Professor J. A. Smith. 547
(See also Classical)
Bacon's The Advancement of Learning. 719 (See also Essays)
Berkeley's (Bishop) Principles of Human Knowledge, New Theory of

Vision. With Introduction by A. D. Lindsay. 483
Boehme's (Jacob) The Signature of All Things, with Other Writings.

Introduction by Clifford Bax. 569
Browne's Religio Medici, etc. Introduction by Professor C. H. Herford. 92
Bunyan's Grace Abounding and Mr Badman. Introduction by G. B.

Harrison. 815 (See also Romance)

Burton's (Robert) Anatomy of Melancholy. Introduction by Holbrook

Jackson. 3 vols. 886-8
Butler's Analogy of Religion. Introduction by Rev. Ronald Bayne. 90
Descartes' (Rene) A Discourse on Method. Translated by Professor John

Veitch. Introduction by A. D. Lindsay. 570
L Ellis' (Havelock) Selected Essays. Introduction by J. S. Collis. 930
L Gore's (Charles) The Philosophy of the Good Life. 924

Hindu Scriptures. Edited by Dr. Nicol Macnicol. Introduction by

Rabindranath Tagore. 944
Hobbes' Leviathan. Edited, with Intro, by A. D. Lindsay, M.A. 691
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. Intro, by Rev. H. Bayne. 2 vols. 201-2
Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, and other Philosophical Works.

Introduction by A. D. Lindsay, M.A. 2 vols. 548-9
James (William): Selected Papers on Philosophy. 739

io

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY— continued

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Tran-lat<vl l.v J. M. H MlLlelohn

Introduction by A. D. 1 . . M. \

K,!1, rhe Christian Year. Introduction bv J. c. Shalrp. «90
Kins Edward \ l Flrrt and Second Prayer Books. Introduction by the

Right Kev. Klshnp of Gloucester. 448
L Koran, The. Rod well's Translation. 380

Latimer's Sermorw. [ntrodnctlon by Uimn Pcechln? 40

Law's Berlona Call to n Permit and Hoiv i.if.-. yi

Leibniz^ Philosophical Writing*. Selected and trana by Mary Morris

Introduction by O. R. Morris, M.A. DOS
Lock , e .' 8 .. Two Tri,a,1 »f" "f Olrll Government. Introduction by Professor

\\ llliam B. Carponter. 7.'>1
Malthus on the Principles of Population. I i ila 899 ■
Mill's (J. '•iSttmrn I tOltarlanlran, Liberty, Rei .rivo Government

With Introduction by A. D. Lindsay. M.A. 4 - 2
.. Subjection of Women. (See Wollstonccraff Marr, vwier SOTJOfOE )
U pe B L topia. Introduction bv Judge O'llairan. I<U
L New Testament. Arranged in the order in whl ib tbo books came to the
Christians of the First Century, 93
Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua. Intro, by Dr Charles Saroloa 630

(See also Essays)
Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathnstra. Translated by A. Tille and

>i. m. Bosnian.
PalneV Rights nf Man. Introduction by G. J. Ilolvoake 718
P**^ B a \S?"*«*' .Translated by W. F. Trotter. Introduction by
r. S. Eliot. 874 [CI E 403

Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The. Translated by Romesh Dutt
Renan's Life of Jesus. Introduction by Right Kev. Chas. Gore, D D 805
Robertson's (KW) Sermons on Religion and Life, Christian Doctrine,
and Bible Subject*. Each Volume with Introduction by Canon
Burnett. 3 vols. 37-9
Robinson's (Wade) Tbo Philosophy of Atonement and Other Sermons

Introduction by Rev. F. B. Meyer. 637
Rousseau's (J. J.) The Social Contract, etc. 660 (See also Essays)
St Augustine's Confessions. Dr I'usey's Translation. 200
t. St Francis: The Little Flowers, and The Life of St Francis. 4 85
Seeley's Ecce Homo. Introduction bv Sir Oliver Lodge 305
Spinoza's Ethics, etc. Translated by Andrew J. Boylo. With Intro-
duction by Professor Santayana. 4*1
Swedenborg's (Emmanuel) Heaven and HelL 379

The Divine Love and Wisdom. 635
„ The Divine Providence. 658

L .. ., The True Christian Religion. 893

POETRY AND DRAMA

Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Edited bv Professor R. K. Gordon. 791
Arnold's (Matthew) Poems, 1840-66, Including Thvrsis. 334
Ballads, A Book of British. Selected by R. 13. Johnson. 572
Beaumont and Fletcher, The Select Plavs of. Introduction bv Professor

Baker, of Harvard University. 506
BHTcson's Plays. Vol. I. The Newly Married Couple. Leonardo, A
Gauntlet. Trans, by R. Farquharson Sharp 625
„ .. Vol. II. The Editor, The Bankrupt, and The King

Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. 6'J6
Blake's Poems and Prophecies. Introduction by Max Plowman 792
l Browning's Poems, 1833-44. Introduction by Arthur Wan rh 41
L Browning's Poems, 1844-64. 42

The Ring and the Book. Intro, by Chn,s. W. nodell. 502
L Burns' Poems and Songs. Introduction bv J. Douglas, y 1
Byron's Poetical and Dramatic Works. 3" vols. 486-8
Caldcron: Six Plays, translated by Edward FitzGerald. 819
L Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Edited by Principal Bun-ell, M A 307
Coleridge, Golden Book of. Edited by Stopford A. Brooke 43

(See also Essays)
Cowper (William). Poems of. Edited by H. I'Anson Fausset. 872
(See also Biography)
l Dante's Divine Comedy (Gary's Translation). Specially edited bv
Edmund Gardner. 308
Donne's Poems. Edited by H. I'Anson Fausset. 867
Dryden's Poems. Edited by Bonamy Dobrec. 910
Eighteenth-Century Plays. Edited by John Hampden. 818

II

POETRY AND DRAMA— continued

Emerson's Poems. Introduction by Professor Bakewell, Yalo, U.S.A.. 715
L English Religious Verse. Edited by Q. Lacey May. 937

Everyman and other Interludes, including eight Miracle Plays. Edited

by Ernest Rhys. 381

L FitzGerald'e (Edward) Omar Khayyam and Six Plays of Calderon. 819

L Goethe's Faust. Parts I and II. Trans, and Intro, by A. G. Latham. 335

(See also Essays and Fiction) [well. 921

L Golden Book of Modern English Poetry, The. Edited by Thomas Cald-

Goldcn Treasury of Longer Poems, The. Edited by Ernest Rhys. 746

Goldsmith's Poems and Plays. Introduction by Austin Dobson. 415

(-See also Essays and Fiction)
Gray's Poems and Letters. Introduction by John Drinkwater. 628
Hebbel'e Plays. Translated with an Introduction by Dr O. K. Allen. 601
Heine: Prose and Poetry. 911

Herbert's Temple. Introduction by Edward Thomas. 309
Herrick's Hesperides and Noble Numbers. Intro, by Ernest Rhys. 310
L Ibsen's Brand. Translated by F. E. Garrett. 716
L „ Ghosts, The Warriors at Helgeland, and An Enemy of the People.

Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. 552
L „ Lady Inger of Ostraat, Love's Comedy, and The League of
Youth. Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. 729
„ Peer Gvnt. Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. 747

l „ A Doll's House, The Wild Duck, and The Lady from the Sea.
Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. 491
„ The Pretenders, Pillars of Society, and Ro nioreholm. Translated
by R. Farquharson Sharp. 659
Jonson's (Ben) Plays. Introduction by Professor Sohelling. 2 vols. 489-90
Kalidasa: Shakuntala. Translated by Professor A. W. Ryder. 629
L Keats' Poems. 101

Kingsley's (Charles) Poems. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 793
(See alio Fiction and For Younq People)
L Langland's (William) Piers Plowman. 571

Lessing's LaocoOn, Minna von Barnhelm, and Nathan the Wise. 813
L Longfellow's Poems. Introduction by Katherine Tynan. 382

Marlowe's Plays and Poems. Introduction by Edward Thomas. 383
l Milton's Poems. Introduction by W. H. D. Rouse. 384
(.See also Essays)
Minor Elizabethan Drama. Vol. I. Tragedy. Selected, with Introduction,
by Professor Thorndike. Vol. II. Comedy. 491-2
L Minor Poets of the 18th Centurv. Edited by H. I' Anson Fausset. 844

Minor Poets of the 17th Century. Edited by R. G. Howarth. 873
L Modern Plavs. 942

Molieie's Comedies. Introduction by Prof. F. C. Green. 2 vols. 830-1
L New Golden Treasury, The. Au Anthology of Songs and Lyrics. 695

Old Yellow Book, The. Introduction by Charles E. Hodell. 503
L Omar Khayyam (The Rubaiyat of). Trans, by Edward Fit/Gerald. 819
L Palgrave's Golden Treasury. Introduction by Edward Hutton. 96
Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. 2 vols. 148-9
Poe's (Edgar Allan) Poems and Essays. Intro, by Andrew Lang. 791

(-See also Fiction)
Pope (Alexander): Collected Poems. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 760
Procter's (Adelaide A.) Legends and Lyrics. 150

Restoration Plays, A Volume of. Introduction by Edmund Gosse. 604
L Rossetti's Poems and Translations. Introduction by E. G. Gardner. 627
Scott's Poems and Plays. Intro, by Andrew Lang. 2 vols. 550-1
(»Se^ also Biography and Fiction)
l Shakespeare's Comedies. 153

L „ Historical Plays, Poems, and Sonnets. 151

L „ Tragedies. 155

L Shelley's Poetical Works. Introduction by A. H. Koszul. 2 vols. 257-3
L Sheridan's Plays. 95

Spenser's Faerie Queene. Intro, by Prof. J. W. Hales. 2 vols. 443— t
„ Shepherd's Calendar aud Other Poems. Edited by Philip
Henderson. 879
Stevenson's Poerns-A Child's Garden of Verses, Underwoods, Songs of
Travel, Ballads. 768 (See also Essays, Fiction, and Travel)
L Tchekhov. Plays and Stories. 91 1

Tennyson's Poems. Vol. I, 1S30-50. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 44
Vol. IL 1857-70. 626 [Harrison. 899

Twenty One-Act Plays. Selected by John Hampden. 947
Webster and Ford. Plays. Selected, with Introduction, by Dr. G. B.
Whitman's (Wait) Leaves of Grass (I), Democratic Vistas, etc. 573

12

America. I>i.

569

Asia. Do.

633

Africa and Australia.

Do.

POETRY AND DRAMA— continued

Wilde i Oscar). Plajl, Pro,.- Writings and P. ..inn. 858

l Wordsworth's Shorter Poems. Introdacti m i>y Eraett Rhys. 203
Longer Poems. Note by Editor. J>l

REFERENCE

Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geojrraphy. Many coloured and line

Maps; Historical Gazetteer, Index, etc. 451
Iliofmiphlful Dictionary of English Literature. 449

s-aphical lMetlonary of Foreign Literature. 'juO
Dates. Dictionary of. 66 I

Dictionary of Quotation* and Proverbs. 2 vols. 809-10
Everyman*! Eiiglish Dictionary. 770

Literary uud Historical Atlas. I. Europe. Many coloured and line Maps;

full Index and Gazetteer. 496

n.
in.

1\'. Africa and Australia. Do. 662
Kon-Classica] Mythology, Dictionary of. 632
Reader's ijuide to Everyman's Library, by R. Farquharsou Sharp.
Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 889

Roget's Thesauru- ox English Words ami Phrases. 2 vols. 630-1
Smith's Smaller Classical Dictionary. Revised and Edited by E. H.

Blakcney. M.A. 495
Wright's An Encyclopaedia of Gardening. 555

ROMANCE

Aueassln and Nlcolette, with other Medieval Romances. 4 97
Boccaccio's Decameron. (Unabridged.) Translated by J. M. Rigg.
Introdnction by Edward Hutton. 2 vols. 845-6
L Bnnyan's Pilerlm's Progress. Introduction by Rev. H. K. Lewis. 204

Burnt Njal, The Story of. Translated by Sir George Dasent. 558
l Cervantes' Don Quixote. Motteux's Translation. Lockhart's Intro-
;ion. 8 vols. 385-6
Chretien de Troyes: Eric and Enid. Translated, with Introduction and

Notes, by William Wistar Comfort. 698
French Medieval Romances. Translated by Eugene Mason. 557
■ iTrey of Monmouth's Histories of the Kings of Britain. 577
Qrettlr Saga, The. Newly Translated by G. Ainslie Bight. 609
Gudrun. Done Into English by Margaret Armour. 880
Guest's (Lady; Mabinogion. Introduction by Rev. R. Williams. 97
Heimskringla: The Olaf Sagas. Translated by Samuel Laing. Intro-
duction and Notes by John Beveridge. 717
„ Sagas of the Norse Kings. Translated by Samuel Laing.

Introduction and Notes by John Beverldge. 847
Holy Graal, The High History of the. 445

Kalevsla. Introduction by W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., F.E.S. 2 vols. 259-60
Le Sage's The Ad\tntur* of Gil Bias. Intro, by Anatole Le Bras. 2 vols.
MacDonald's (George) Phantastes: A Faerio Romance. 732 [437-8

(See also Fiction)
Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Intro, by Professor Rhys. 2 vols. 45-6
L Morris (William): Early Romances. Introduction by Alfred Noyoa. 261
„ ,, The Life and Death of Jason. 575

Morte d'Arthur Romances, Two. Introduction by Lucy A. Paton. 634
Nibelungb, The Fall of the. Translated by Margaret Armour. 312
Rabelais' '1' he Heroic Deeds of Gargantua and PantagrneL Introduction

by D. B. Wyndham Lewis. 2 vols. 826-7
W ace's Arthurian Romance. Translated by Eugene Mason. Laya-
mon's Brut. Lntroduction by Lucy A. Patou. 678

SCIENCE

Bovle's The Sceptical Chymist. 559

Darwin's The Origin of Species. Introduction by Sir Arthur Keith. Sll

(See also Travel) [E. F. Bozraan. 922

L Eddington's (Sir Arthur) The Nature of the Physical World. Intro, by

Euclid: the Elements of. Todhunter's Edition. Introduction by Sir

Thomas Heath, K.C.B. 891
Faraday's (Michael) Experimental Researches in Electricity. 576
Galton'e Inquiries into Human Faculty. Revised by Author. 263
George's (Henry) Progress and Poverty. 560
Hahnemann's (Samuel) The Organon of the Rational Art of Healing.

Introduction by C. E. Wheeler. 6t>3

13

93

SCIENCE— continued

Harvey's Circulation of the Blood. Introduction by Ernest Parkyn. 262
Howard's State of the Prisons. Introduction by Kenneth Ruck. 835
Huxley's Essays. Introduction by Sir Oliver Lodge. 47

„ Select Lectures and Lay Sermons. Intro. Sir Oliver Lodge. 498
Lvell's Antiquity of Man. With an Introduction by R. H. Rastall. 700
Marx's (Karl) Capital. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul. Intro-
duction by G. D. H. Cole. 2 vols. 848-9
Miller's Old Red Sandstone. 103

Owen's (Robert) A New View of Society, etc. Intro, by G. D. H. Cole. 799
L Pearson's (Karl) The Grammar of Science. 939

Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. 590
Smith's (Adam) The Wealth of Nations. 2 vols. 412-13
Tyndall's Glaciers of the Alps and Mountaineering in 1861.
White's Selborne. Introduction by Principal Windle. 48
Wollstonecraft (Mary), The Rights of Woman, with John Stuart Mill's
The Subjection of Women. 825

TRAVEL AND TOPOGRAPHY

A Book of the ' Bounty. * Edited by George Mackaness. 950

Anson's Voyages. Introduction by John Masefield. 510

Bates' Naturalist on the Amazon. With Illustrations. 446

Belt's The Naturalist in Nicaragua. Intro, by Anthony Belt, F.L.S. 561

Burrow's (George) The Gypsies in Spain. Intro, by Edward Thomas. 697

L ' The Bible in Spain. Intro, by Edward Thomas. 151

" Wild Wales. Intro, by Theodore Watts-Dunton. 49
(See also Fiction)
Boswell's Tour in the Hebrides with Dr Johnson. 387

(See also Biography)
Burton's (Sir Richard) First Footsteps in East Africa. 500
Cobbett's Rural Rides. Introduction by Edward Thomas. 2 vols. 63S-9

L Cook's Voyages of Discovery. 99

Crevecceur's (H. St John) Letters from an American Farmer. 640
Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle. 104

(See also Science) .

Defoe's Tour Through England and Wales. Introduction by G. D. H.
(See also Fiction) [Cole. 820-1

Dennis' Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. 2 vols. 183-4
Dufferin's (Lord) Letters from High Latitudes. 499
Ford's Gatherings from Spain. Introduction by Thomas Okey. 152
Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea. Intro, by Capt. R. F. Scott. 447
«iraldus Cambrensis: Itinerary and Description of Wales. 272
Hakluvt's Voyages. 8 vols. 264, 265, 313, 314, 338, 339. 388, 389
Kinglake's Eothen. Introduction by Harold Spender, M.A. 337
Lane's Modern Egyptians. With many Illustrations. 315
MandevUle's (Sir John) Travels. Introduction by Jules Bramont. 812
Park (Muneo): Travels. Introduction by Ernest Rhys. 205
Peaks, Pastes, and Glaciers. Selected by E. H. Blakeney, M.A. 778

l Polo's (Marco) Travels. Introduction by John Masefield. oOb

Roberts' The Western Avernus. Latro. by Cunninghame Graham. 762

L Speke's Discovery of the Source of the Nile. 50

L Stevenson's An Inland Voyage, Travels with a Donkey, and Silverado

Squatters. 706

(Sec also Essays, Fiction, and Poetry)
Stow's Survey of London. Lntroduction by H. B. Wheatley. 589
Wakefield's Letter from Sydney and Other Writings on Colonization. 828
Waterton's Wanderings in South America. Intro by E feelous 772
Young's Travels in France and Italy. Intro, by Thomas Okey. 720

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

L JEsop's and Other Fables: An Anthology from all sources. 657
Alpotfs Little Men. Lutroduction by Grace Rhys. 512
Alcott s £^ue Women and Good wives. Intro, by Grace Rhys. 243
Andersen's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by the Brothers Robinson. 4
Andersen s **£* Fairy Tales illustrated by Mary Shillabeer. 822

Annals of Fairyland. The Reign of King Oberon. 365
^^ The Reign of King Cole. 366

Asgard and the"Norse Heroes. Translated by Mrs Boult. 689
Baker's Cast up by the Sea. 53 9
L baUantyne's Coral Island. 245

Martin Rattler. 246

Ungava. Datroduction by Ernest Rhys. 27b

14

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE— continue!

I Browne's (Frances) Granny's Wonderful <'h:iir. Introduction by Dollle
R/irlf..r.i- 112
Bulnuct/s (Thomas) The .\ k 'o of Fable, 179

„ ,, Legends of Charlemagne. Intro. by Krnest ithys. 6i<i

L Canton's A Child'! B<">k of Saints. Illnitr.it.-ii by T. H. Robinson. 61

(See also Essays)
i ' trroD'a Alios in Wonderland, Through the Looklng-Gla illus-

trated tiv t hf Author. Introduction by ECrneel Rhys. 836
i from i hanoer. 537
I Dodl'B Pinoochio; or. The 8tory of a Puppet. '>33
l OonTerse'e [Florence] The Boose <>f Prayer. (See alei I'ktion)

Cox'i sir •;. w.> Tales of Ancient Greece. 7 •_' l
Defoe's Kobinson Crusoe. Illustrated by J. A. Symington. 59
[See also Fiction)
Ige'e (Mary Manes) Hans Hrlnker: or, The Silvor Skates. 020
Edgar's Heroes of England. 471
(See also Fiction)
l Ewing's (Mrs) Jackanapes. Daddy Darwin's Dovecot. Illustrated by
It. Caldeoott, and The story of a Short Life. 731
Mrs Overtheway's Remembrances. 730
L Fairy Cold. Illustrated by Herbert Cole. 157
L Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights. Illustrated. 249
Froissart's Chronicles. 57

Gatty's Parables from Nature. Introduction by Grace Rhys. 153
Grimm's Pairy Tales. Illustrated by R. Anning Boll. 56
Hawthorne's wonder Book and Tanglewood Talcs. 5

(See also Fiction)
Howard's Rattlin the Reefer. Introduction by Guy Pocoek. 857
L Hughes' Tom Brown's School Days. Illustrated by T. Robinson. 53
Ingelow*8 (Jean) Mopsa the Fairy. Illustrated by Dora Curtis. 619
Jeneries'a i Richard) Bevis, the Story of a Boy. Introduction by Guy
Pocoek. 850
L Kingsley's Heroes. Introduction by Grace Rhys. 113

Madam How and Lady Why. Introduction by C. I. Gardiner,
L „ Water Babies and Glaucus. 277 [M.A. 777

(See alSC POBTBT and FICTION)
Kingston's Peter the Whaler.
Three Midshipmen. 7
l Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. Illustrated bv A. Rackham. i

(See also Biography and Essays)
l Lear (and others): A Book of Nonsense. 806
Marryat's Children of the New Forest. 247

Little Savage. Introduction by R. Brimley Johnson. 159
Mastennan Ready. Introduction bv R. Brimley Johnson. 160
Settlers in Canada. Introduction by R. Brimley Johnson. 370

(Edited by) Rattlin the Reefer. 857
(See also Fiction)
Martineau's Feats on the Fjords, etc. Illustrated bv A. Rackham. 429
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes. Illustrated. 473
Poetry Book for Boys and Girls. Edited by Guy Pocoek. 894
Reid's (Mayne) The Boy Hunters of the Mississippi. 582

The Boy Slaves. Introduction by Guv Pocoek. 797
Ruskin's The Two Boyhoods and Other Passages. 688
(See also Essays)
l Sewell's (Anna) Black Beauty. Illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch. 743
L Spyri's (Johanna) Heidi. Illustrations bv Lizxio Lawson. 131
L Story Book for Boys and Girls. Edited by Guv Pocoek. 9Ji

Stowe'e Uncle Tom's Cabin. 371
L Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Illustrated by A. Rackham. 60

(See also Biography and Essays)
L Swiss Family Robinson. Illustrations by Chas. Folkard. 430
Verne's (Jules) Abandoned. 50 BJustrations. 368

>• .. Dropped from the Clouds. 50 Illustrations. 367

L „ „ Five Weeks in a Balloon and Around the World in Eighty

Days. Translated by Arthur Chambers and P. Desages.
L •• ,. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. 319 [77J

.. ., The Secret of the Island. 50 illustrations. 309

Yonge's (Charlotte M.) The Book of Golden Deeds. 330

•» » The Lances of Lynwood. Illustrated by Dora

Curtis. 57 9
fc ■> .. The Little Duke. Illustrated by Dora Curtis. 470

(Set also Fiction)

15

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An anatomical disquisition 101
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